The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Unusual Instruments: Arnold’s Grand Grand Festival Overture May 21st, 2020 One of the delights of the 2003 movie Les Triplettes de Belleville was the nightclub scene where the triplets, who had been stars of the French music halls in the 1930s, take the stage in their very old age with -
Painted and Musical Portraits of Children
Auguste Renoir and Jean Françaix May 20th, 2020Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) started his career as a porcelain painter. However, the young man had clearly grander ambitions, and he soon found himself in the company of the academic artist Charles Gleyre, Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, and Alfred Sisley. The -
My Beethoven by Maureen May 19th, 2020 One of the things that we are often unaware of is how much our first hearing of a work can influence our thoughts on that work. I don’t think I really paid attention to the music around me unless I -
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
“I’m Not in the Habit of Attracting Crowds” May 18th, 2020A good many commentators consider Gabriel Fauré the “greatest master of French song.” He composed stylish and elegant melodies, etched with sleight-of hand urbanity. His music flows effortlessly, “magically combining Monet’s liquid cool with the warmth of a Pisarro landscape.” -
The Music of Poetry
Walt Whitman “When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard Bloom’d” May 17th, 2020When Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. The American Civil War lasted for -
Finding Inspiration in Isolation May 17th, 2020 The arts don’t exist in isolation.David Byrne, musician Musicians, like writers and artists, need quiet time and solitude to pursue their work. The desire to withdraw, often for hours on end, is not necessarily a sign of unsociability nor introvertedness -
Lieder ohne Worte II
Composer’s Fancy and Player’s Delight May 16th, 2020It is probably not common knowledge that the composer Charles Gounod and Fanny Hensel—sister of Felix Mendelssohn—met in Rome in 1839. Gounod had just been awarded the Prix de Rome and a scholarship to spend 12 months in the Eternal -
Playing With Musical Terms May 16th, 2020 Why are there so many words when it comes to music? And in so many languages, like Italian, German, French, and even English! Often, one has to decipher obscure words to read the score and the musical directions, which include