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
Latest article
Spotlight
-
On This Day
6 December: Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust Was Premiered December 6th, 2021When Claude Debussy was working on his opera, Pelleas et Melisande, he wrote “Berlioz was never, properly speaking, a musician of the theater.” Debussy’s comment mirrored the thoughts of contemporary critics and scholars who suggested that Berlioz was more successful -
Friendship and Love
Georges Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles December 5th, 2021When talking about operas, we mostly focus on arias, those glorious moments where all time stops and the hero or heroine tells us of their hopes and their dreams, or their disappointments and anger. Duets, however, have their own strength. -
Challenging Traditional Practices at the Piano December 5th, 2021 There are certain habits of piano practice which are ingrained in us from an early age and which have become a form of “piano dogma”. As a young piano student we may accept these practices without question, trusting in our -
On This Day
5 December: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Died December 5th, 2021At 12:55 am on 5 December 1791, the singular and unique Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart took his last breath. He had fallen ill in Prague in September 1791, but continued his professional activities, including conducting the premiere of The Magic Flute -
Food for Thought
Mealtime With Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart December 4th, 2021Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved billiards, his pet starling, and food! Food was plentiful in Vienna during Mozart’s time, and a cheap and common meal would have consisted of two large meat dishes with soup, vegetables, bread, and a quarter liter -
A Life in a Circle: Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin December 4th, 2021 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) took up the story of the beautiful miller’s daughter in 1823 using selections from a longer poem published in 1820 by his friend Wilhelm Müller. Müller’s original poem is made up of some 25 separate poems, only -
NetEase Cloud Music Appoints Maestro Xu Zhong December 3rd, 2021 NetEase Cloud Music is a freemium music streaming service publically launched in 2013. Its music service has attracted over 800 million registered users, and its principle aim, according to a spokesperson, is to “actively fulfill our responsibilities to promote the -
A New Way to Hear Brahms
An Interview With Jérémie Rhorer of Le Cercle de l’Harmonie December 3rd, 2021In talking with Jérémie Rhorer of Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, an ensemble founded in 2005 to explore the line between Classical and Romantic music, we discovered a new Brahms. Le Cercle de l’Harmonie is an orchestra that plays period instruments,