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
-
Best Songs in B Minor January 30th, 2021 I was reading that the key of B minor meant different things to different people at different times. According to some theorists, during Bach’s time it “expressed a quiet acceptance of fate, a submission to divine dispensation, and very gentle -
Interview With a Recorder Player – Alicia Crossley January 29th, 2021 When listening to Alicia Crossley play one of her 18 handmade recorders, which I’ve heard her play many times, a listener gets the feeling that the instrument was made for her. In this interview, we get to understand more about -
Note For Note: A Musical Fable by Howard Smith January 28th, 2021 In part a memoir, ‘Note for Note’ is a Pilgrim’s Progress for the amateur pianist – indeed, any amateur musician – and in it the author charts the pleasures and the pitfalls, the breakthroughs and “lightbulb moments” as well as - Fairies and Butterflies in the Salon: Debussy’s Two Arabesques January 27th, 2021 Private gatherings at home, known as salons, started in the 17th century in France, where literary gatherings or intellectual groups would get together to exchange ideas. Often headed by a brilliant man or woman who could bring like-minded people together,
-
Franz Schubert and His Circle of Friends III January 26th, 2021 Franz Schubert and his close-knit circle of artist and friends frequently gathered at the large apartment of Ignaz von Sonnleithner to hold their Schubertiades. These meeting had distinct intellectual, erotic and often political undercurrents. In the aftermath of the French - Finding Comfort Through Music
Recovery from Illness January 25th, 2021In April 1825 Ludwig van Beethoven developed a serious intestinal illness. His exact condition was unclear, but his doctor ordered him away from Vienna to rest at the nearby spa of Baden. Placed on a strict diet and forbidden to -
Musicians and Artists: Feldman and Guston January 24th, 2021 The art of Philip Guston (1913-1980) remains controversial even 30 years after his death. A founder of the New York School, this abstract-expressionist was not afraid of putting his beliefs on canvas. One of his early 20th century works, The -
In Praise of Audiences January 24th, 2021 We missed our audiences in the year of pandemic and when they returned, they were sparser than usual due to social distancing. But they are coming back to the concert halls and opera houses, their appetite for live music apparently
