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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Music in View: The Victoria and Albert Museum October 26th, 2021 The collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is idiosyncratic, to say the least. Within the British national collections, that V&A holds sculpture and applied arts. The first musical piece of applied art is an 18th century work -
On This Day
26 October: Domenico Scarlatti Was Born October 26th, 2021The Scarlatti family was one of the most prominent musical dynasties in Italy, with various branches of the family living in Sicily, Rome, and in northern Italy. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) became the most important opera composer of his generation in -
Scary Music for a Scary Night October 25th, 2021 Whether you decide to venture out for the end of October holiday or stay home and just scare people with the music you’re playing, there’s a lot of scary music out there to chose from. Opening with 12 strokes of -
Johann Sebastian Bach and His Circle of Friends I October 24th, 2021 Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-1788) described his father’s household in Leipzig as a “pigeon coop.” People were constantly swarming in and out all the time, and he told the Bach biographer Forkel, “with his many activities Bach hardly had time for -
The Pulitzer Prize in Music
1990s and the New Century October 24th, 2021See here for the history of the prize. The 1990s Composer Mel Powell, who founded the music department at the California Institute of the Arts, started his career as a jazz pianist, joining Benny Goodman’s band in 1941. During WWII, -
Chamber Music by Women Composers III
Chaminade, Clarke, Bacewicz, Garcia-Viardot, and Higdon October 23rd, 2021Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) was the first woman composer ever to be awarded with the legion d‘honneur in 1913. The composer Ambroise Thomas said, “This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.” Chaminade was well -
Death Comes at the End: Mahler’s Totenfeier October 23rd, 2021 If Mahler could write a scary movie soundtrack, his symphonic poem Totenfeier (Funeral Rites) would be one of his contributions. This 1888 work, which one writer described as a ‘huge symphonic funeral march,’ comes between his first two symphonies. If -
Paris Does the Ragtime
Debussy, Satie, Antheil and Stravinsky October 22nd, 2021During July 1900, as part of an extended European tour, John Philip Sousa and his band performed at the opening of the Universal Exposition in Paris. Celebrating the 4th of July, they played at the dedication of the American Pavilion