The solo violin has long been acknowledged as the perfect instrument to express emotions like love, longing, heartbreak, rapture, and romance. The Romantic era lasted from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and produced numerous works that
Latest article
Spotlight
-
Music as Consolation April 23rd, 2021 Not just in times of lockdown or isolation, music is the invention that comforts us. During this pandemic, I have had ample time to discover new music that helps me to relax. I’ve found that it is early music that -
Piano Music in the Key of C April 22nd, 2021 The key of C major. It’s the beginner’s key signature and usually the first scale that early piano students learn. (In fact, Chopin considered it the most difficult scale to play and instead liked to begin his students with the - Sigismond Thalberg and Cecchina Lablache
“The Glass Coffin With the Ermine Cape” April 21st, 2021In the preface to his L’art du chant appliqué au piano, the distinguished virtuoso pianist and composer Sigismond Thalberg (1812-1871) states that he took voice lessons from a famous singer in his youth. That famous singer turned out to be - In Honour of Your Majesty
Britten, Hindemith, Bach, Handel and Mozart April 20th, 2021The United Kingdom is currently in a period of national mourning for Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 99. The Prince requested a funeral of minimal fuss, and with Corona restrictions in place, - Composers of the Zodiac
Tropic of Taurus April 20th, 2021Between 20 April and 20 May, the “Great Bull of Heaven” charges across the celestial sky. The constellation Taurus, according to Greek mythology, depicts the god Zeus changing himself into a beautiful white Bull. Zeus was rather famous for changing -
Wolfgang A. Mozart and His Fellow Musicians April 19th, 2021 In the historiography of Western music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart occupies a special position. We consider him an exceptional and singular musical genius who attained the status of an undisputed superstar of Classical music. God-like status and reverence aside, we also -
Piano, Guitar: The Co-Parents of Music April 19th, 2021 The guitar and the piano. From a composer’s point of view they are both small-sized orchestras; although one slightly more portable than the other. They have been used by musicians, and particularly composers — unstoppably since their invention, and for - The Music of Poetry
Peter Lieberson: “Neruda Songs” April 18th, 2021Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) is one of the most influential and widely read 20th-century poets of the Americas. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, and he is widely regarded “as the greatest poet writing in the Spanish language
