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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Hope for Peace
Refugee Composers and Performers April 4th, 2022With some notable exceptions, the vast majority of the civilized world is currently in deep shock by the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine. Once again, millions of innocent civilians are made to suffer by a totalitarian dictator, and once again, -
On This Day
4 April: Bedřich Smetana’s Vltava (The Moldau) Was Premiered April 4th, 2022The conductor Adolf Čech (1841-1903) premiered a number of significant works by Antonín Dvořák, Zdeněk Fibich, and Bedřich Smetana. Such was the case on 4 April 1875, when he took the podium with the Orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre -
A Piano Trio Symphony
Beethoven: Symphony No. 2 April 3rd, 2022A recent recording by Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos provided an interesting examination of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, but as arranged for piano trio. The music was arranged by Beethoven’s right-hand man, Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838). -
Classical Music Moments in Movies IV April 3rd, 2022 Some say that feminist musicology started at the movies, and that it all kicked off with Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian crime film “A Clockwork Orange” of 1971. The central character Alex is a charismatic and antisocial delinquent who is interested in -
On This Day
3 April: Johannes Brahms Died April 3rd, 2022Johannes Brahms was certainly open to life’s pleasures, and he would never decline a good meal. He once told a friend, “I live in Vienna as if I were in the country,” and he ate his lunch at the same -
John Woods Duke: 3 Chinese Love Lyrics April 2nd, 2022 The American composer and pianist John Woods Duke (1899-1984) might not be a household name, but he was certainly one of the most talented composers of art song in the 20th century. Duke was fascinated by the “strange and marvelous -
Musicians and Artists: Fibich and 5 Painters April 2nd, 2022 Zdeněk Fibich: Studies of Painters (Malířské studie) In this 1899 work, Czech composer Zdeněk Fibich (1850-1900) chose works by 5 different painters from the 15th to the 18th centuries to illustrate in his Studies of Painters, Op. 56 (Malířské studie). -
Ryan Corbett April 1st, 2022 ‘Understand their world through your own life experience’ Ryan Corbett: Spanische Caprice Originally starting self-taught on the instrument, young Scottish accordionist Ryan Corbett has become a rising star. Currently in his final year of study at the Royal Conservatoire of