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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Shanghai Sonatas: Hope Not Hate March 5th, 2022 The pianists Yuja Wang, Lang-Lang, and Ji Liu, cellist Yo Yo Ma, composers Chen Yi and Tan Dun, and pipa player Wu Man are household names in the world of music. There are an astounding number of Chinese people joining -
Prokofiev: Old Grandmother’s Tales March 5th, 2022 In 1914, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, having entered there ten years earlier at age 14 as the youngest-ever student to enter the Conservatoire. His teachers were the finest in Russia: Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Lyadov. He -
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5 March: Heitor Villa-Lobos Was Born March 5th, 2022Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) has been described as “the single most significant creative figure in 20th century Brazilian art music.” His quest to develop musical compositions using indigenous Brazilian elements fueled a number of ethno-musicological excursions into the northeastern states of -
Musicians and Artists: Cohen and Calder March 4th, 2022 American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was known not only for his distinctive mobiles but also his ‘stabiles,’ non-moving sculptures. One of his best-known ‘stabiles’ is Cirque Calder (Calder’s Circus), a collection of over 70 miniature figures and animals with over -
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4 March: Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, K. 595 Was Premiered March 4th, 2022Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his final piano concerto in January of 1791, shortly before his thirty-fifth birthday. Mozart could hardly have known that K. 595 was going to be his last piano concerto, and that 1791 was going to be -
What is Sight Reading? March 3rd, 2022 The end of January sees the UK deadline fast-approaching for self-employed people up and down the country to submit their ‘Self Assessment’ tax returns. Sight reading, much like filing tax forms, is something that makes sense in theory, but can -
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3 March: Mendelssohn’s “Scottish Symphony” Was Premiered March 3rd, 2022During his first visit to Britain in 1829, Felix Mendelssohn participated in a series of highly successful performances in London. During his London stay, Mendelssohn was in the care of his close lifelong friend Carl Klingemann. Klingemann was eleven years -
Mother and Maiden
Variations of “I Sing of a Maiden” in Classical Music March 2nd, 2022The fifteenth century poem ‘I syng of a mayden,’ also known ‘As Dew in Aprille,’ celebrates the Annunciation and coming birth of Christ. Although thought to be well-known in the 15th century, the poem comes to us now only in