Over the centuries, many of history’s most important women composers were forced to publish under male pseudonyms. Across the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, dozens of women composers adopted masculine or gender-neutral identities so their work would be reviewed
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10 more Dazzling and Awe-Inspiring Piano Quintets November 10th, 2024 In my initial blog on the 10 most beautiful piano quintets in classical music, I featured incredible masterworks for the combination of the string quartet with the piano. This type of scoring essentially started with Robert Schumann, and from around -
Past & Present: Overtures for the Concert Hall November 10th, 2024 William Shakespeare, the immortal “Bard of Avon”, is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He has given us 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems alongside other verses of uncertain -
Sigurd Raschèr: King of Sax November 9th, 2024 In the 1840s, the Parisian instrument builder Adolphe Sax provided a welcome addition to the family of woodwind instruments. Named after its inventor, the saxophone features a single reed mouthpiece like the clarinet, a conical brass body like the ophicleide, -
14 Pieces of Classical Music About the Sky November 6th, 2024 Whenever people are looking for inspiration, they often look up into the sky. Classical composers are no exception. We’ve gathered fourteen pieces of classical music that encourage us to take a breath, go outside, and look up. Franz Liszt: Nuages -
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
An Anniversary Cello Tribute November 4th, 2024On 4 November 2024, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Gabriel Fauré. He might well have been the greatest master of French songs, with his settings achieving a beautiful balance of prosody, melody, harmony, and polyphony. In -
Chamber Music Dedicated to Johannes Brahms November 1st, 2024 We’ve looked at compositions dedicated to Johannes Brahms before, let’s put our focus on various chamber music pieces dedicated to Brahms this time. Heinrich von Herzogenberg: Piano Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 95 Heinrich von Herzogenberg: Piano Quartet in B-flat -
15 Pieces of Classical Music About Trees October 30th, 2024 No matter how many of us end up moving into towns and cities, human beings are still irresistibly drawn to forests, woodlands, and trees. Classical composers are no exception. In fact, a huge percentage of them were great nature lovers -
The 10 Most Beautiful Piano Quintets in Classical Music October 28th, 2024 A piano quintet is generally a composition for piano and four other instruments. Composers throughout the ages have combined a variety of instruments to play along with the piano, but the standardised form of instrumentation features the string quartet. Interestingly,