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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The 10 Saddest Violin Concerto Slow Movements of All Time April 25th, 2026 Over the centuries, composers have often turned to the violin to express emotions like loneliness, nostalgia, and grief. In this list of ten of the saddest violin concerto slow movements, we’re traveling from the Baroque Era breathlessness of Vivaldi’s Four -
Seven of the Best Works by Women for Solo Viola April 24th, 2026 There is no other sound in the classical music world like a solo viola. It’s not quite a violin, and not quite a cello; instead, it’s an otherworldly cross between the two. There have been a number of works for -
Seven of the Best Works by Women for Viola and Orchestra April 17th, 2026 The viola may be the less flashy sibling of the violin, but in the hands of these seven great women composers, the viola truly shines as a solo instrument. From the bold modernism of Marga Richter and Peggy Glanville-Hicks to -
From Allegro to Adagio: A Workout Shaped by Latin American Sound April 16th, 2026 For a long time, I did not think of classical music as something that belonged in a workout. Like many people, I associated exercise with steady beats and predictable rhythms. Yet over time, I noticed that the way I structure -
Yunchan Lim’s Favourite Golden Age Pianists: Breaking Down His Apple Classical Playlist April 14th, 2026 When 18-year-old pianist Yunchan Lim stunned the world at the 2022 Van Cliburn Competition, audiences saw a once-in-a-generation talent whose playing combined a rare poetry with ferocious technique. But Lim’s artistry didn’t come from nowhere. This is a musician who, -
Seven of the Most Popular String Quartet Videos on YouTube April 13th, 2026 Have you ever wondered what the most popular string quartets are? There’s no easy objective way to answer that question, but one way to try is by looking at which YouTube videos of string quartet performances have garnered the most -
Ten Excerpts from Robert Schumann’s Love Letters to Clara April 7th, 2026 The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as -
10 Greatest Piano Concertos (And the Most Popular Performance of Each) April 6th, 2026 Composers have been writing piano concertos since the second half of the eighteenth century. Over the next 250 years, composers have created thousands of piano concertos. Most have since fallen into obscurity…but a handful still dominate in concert halls, on