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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13 November: Gioachino Rossini Died November 13th, 2021Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) was celebrated throughout Europe, and his operas became fixtures on the most prestigious stages around the world. However, things weren’t all that cheerful in terms of his health. An infection with gonorrhea, the result of his early -
Felix Mendelssohn and Queen Victoria November 12th, 2021 Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-1861) were accomplished pianists and singers, and Felix Mendelssohn was their musical hero. The composer first met the Prince on 14 June 1842, hand delivering a letter from Albert’s cousin, Frederick William IV of -
Ten Piano Works by Female Composers From Baroque to Present November 11th, 2021 The music of women composers has long been overshadowed by their male counterparts. In an effort to shine a light, and cast away the shadows, this article features ten works for piano, each written by a female composer. Élisabeth Jacquet -
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11 November: Fyodor Dostoevsky Was Born November 11th, 2021“The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness” The Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) explored human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia. His name is sometimes -
Modes of Motion: Poulenc’s Promenades November 10th, 2021 In his 1921 collection Promenades, Francis Poulenc presents us with an odd world of travel. Rarely performed because of its technical and musical difficulties, Promenades gives us an audio image of travel in early 20th century France. One writer compares -
Music in View: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) November 9th, 2021 The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the Western United States, holding a collection of more than 142,000 objects. We’ll continue our museum ramblings in through this wide-ranging collection that covers more than -
Mozart and His Circle of Friends I November 8th, 2021 Let’s start this little series on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his circle of friends with a look at the supposed relationship between Mozart and Beethoven. Biographer Otto Jahn related the following anecdote: “Beethoven… was introduced to Mozart, and played to -
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8 November: César Franck Died November 8th, 2021During the early months of 1890, César Franck (1822-1890) was busy on a number of compositional projects, including his String Quartet and the Trois Chorals for organ. Sadly, in July of that year he was involved in an accident. He