In classical music, the Romantic Era lasted from around 1810 to around 1910. That century gave us some of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire. Nineteenth-century composers like Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and others elevated the symphony
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Robert Schumann: Album of Songs for the Young April 23rd, 2022 For the 7th birthday of his daughter Marie, Robert Schumann compiled a short album of “Little Piano Pieces.” Once he had gotten that process started, Schumann kept adding miniatures to the collection. His wife Clara Schumann wrote in her diary, -
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23 April: Sergei Prokofiev Was Born April 23rd, 2022Sergei Prokofiev was born on 23 April 1891 in Sontsovka, now located in Ukraine but then a remote rural estate of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. His father Sergey Alekseyevich Prokofiev was an agronomist and managed the estate -
Quick Sketch Artist: Renoir Meets Wagner April 22nd, 2022 Pierre August Renoir (1841-1919), who loved music, was a great admirer of Richard Wagner (1813-1883). As one of the first Wagnerites in France, Renoir jumped at the opportunity to meet his hero when he was in Italy in 1882. Two -
History of Classical Music
Minority Report April 21st, 2022The history of classical music is essentially populated and written by Caucasian white males. Everybody knows the names Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but do you know Margaret Bonds, Eleanor Alberga, Bright Sheng, Isang Yun, Priti Paintal and -
The Delphic Mysteries
Annie Bélis and Mark Edwards Wilson April 20th, 2022Zeus sent out two eagles and where their paths crossed was the center of the world. At that center, Delphi the Oracle, made her pronouncements. You could seek guidance from her, but the interpretation of what she said was up -
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20 April: John Eliot Gardiner Was Born April 20th, 2022John Eliot Gardiner, born on 20 April 1943, is revered as “one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation and standing as a leader in contemporary musical life.” He founded and artistically -
On This Day
19 April: Murray Perahia was Born April 19th, 2022Armed with consummate technical skills, boundless imagination and near-mystical eloquence, American pianist Murray Perahia’s “artistry connects with their freedom of expression and nobility of sound.” Widely considered one of the greatest living pianists, “his interpretations project above all a compelling -
The Chromatic Master: Bach’s Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903 April 19th, 2022 Schoenberg, the master of the Second Viennese School, called him the first 12-tone composer. It was his treatment of chromatic themes that prompted that statement. It’s J.S. Bach, of course, and one of the works that prompted that label was