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
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Musicians and Artists: Robert Jager and Edvard Munch February 15th, 2022 The art of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was always conducted in the shadow of illness – both his own and hereditary mental illnesses that ran in his family. In his art, we find out hidden fears, the shadow -
On This Day
15 February: Mikhail Glinka Died February 15th, 2022Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) has been described as a “dilettante of genius.” His compositions are widely considered the foundation of Russian music, but he primarily wrote them while living and traveling in Western Europe for 23 years. During the 1850s, Glinka -
Valentine’s Day Proposal
Will You Marry Me? February 14th, 2022Who said romance was dead? Well, clearly it hasn’t died but simply been updated in the Instagram era. Many of my friends find it very romantic for their partner to tag them in a photo in Instagram or Facebook. They -
On This Day
14 February: Víkingur Ólafsson Was Born February 14th, 2022Born on 14 February 1984, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson grew up in Reykjavík and started playing the piano at an early age under the tutelage of his mother, a piano teacher. He studied at the Juilliard School in New York, -
The Composer as Poet: Claude Debussy February 13th, 2022 We think of Debussy as the composer of the dreamworld sound of impressionism. He was an active follower of the symbolist movement, which rejected naturalism, realism, and clear-cut forms in favour of the indefinite and the mysterious. The symbolist poets -
The Nightingale’s Sonata
The Story of Violinist Lea Luboshutz and Her Musical Dynasty February 13th, 2022Legendary violinist Lea Luboshutz, was one of the first female soloists to be internationally recognized, and yet her name is not well-known. In 2019 Thomas Wolf, Ms Luboshuz’s grandson, illuminated her place in history in his book The Nightingale’s Sonata—The -
On This Day
13 February: Richard Wagner Died February 13th, 2022We do know that Richard Wagner died on 13 February 1883 after suffering his final, fatal heart attack. However, there is still much debate as to what triggered that fatal attack. The leading English-language dictionary asserts, “the attack followed an -
The Magic of Franco Zeffirelli February 12th, 2022 An exhibition just opened in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, on the artistic legacy of Franco Zeffirelli (1923-2019). In talking to people at the opening, so many remember so many different aspects of his art: one remembers his film of Romeo