The viola may be the less flashy sibling of the violin, but in the hands of these seven great women composers, the viola truly shines as a solo instrument. From the bold modernism of Marga Richter and Peggy Glanville-Hicks to
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Musicians and Artists: Peter Maxwell Davies and Bruegel October 17th, 2020 Pieter Bruegel’s enormous painting Children’s Games is 118 x 161cm (46” x 63”) and throws us into the middle of a complicated street scene. Over 200 children play over 80 different games and we approach it with our modern eyes -
A Digital Cultural Life October 16th, 2020 Can you experience cultural enrichment in a virtual world? Another way of looking at this question is if our foremost experience of culture had always been gleaned digitally, would it be a lesser one? COVID-19 has vastly changed our cultural -
The Neglected Bruch October 14th, 2020 “As time goes on most of my works will be more and more neglected” Max Bruch (1838-1929) is almost exclusively associated with his famed G-minor violin concerto. However, throughout his long and industrious musical career he composed well over 200 -
Beethoven’s Lairs
“Klepperstalle 82” October 13th, 2020Throughout the years 1808/09, Beethoven was restlessly moving from apartment to apartment. From October 1808 he resided at the home of Countess Erdödy at Krugerstrasse 1074, in March and April 1809 he took an apartment on the 2nd floor of -
When the Ear Meets the Eye
Music Composers Who Drew Inspirations From Visual Arts… October 12th, 2020Music is, to many people, very abstract. It is the only form of art that is a language of its own, and oftentimes it is difficult for the common listener to understand the true message of the composer without a -
The Music of Poetry
Alfred de Musset: “Ninon” October 11th, 2020On the basis of his sentimental and declamatory verse, Alfred de Musset has not been well judged by mid-twentieth-century criticism. Yet, Musset is perhaps the first French poet since the Renaissance to make humor a vehicle for impulses essentially lyrical. -
There’s No “Quick Fix” to Learning to Play an Instrument October 11th, 2020 The internet is full of articles promising to help you learn to play an instrument: – Learn to play in just 4 weeks!– Play piano in 10 easy steps– 5 ways to become a great pianist As one of my -
Musicians and Artists: Aaron Douglas and Jazz October 10th, 2020 Aaron Douglas (1899-1979), was a leading painter in the Harlem Renaissance. In 1934, he created a 4-panel mural for the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library. This branch later became NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black