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
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Dragging It Out to the Bitter End May 14th, 2020 What do old opera singers do when they age out? The early 20th-century soprano Nellie Melba did a farewell tour and then another one and then another one, so much that Webster’s dictionary made a verb of it. ‘To do -
Babe Magnet Gabriel Fauré
Marianne Viardot and Marie Frémiet May 13th, 2020Contemporary accounts all agree that Gabriel Fauré was extraordinarily attractive. “He had a dark complexion, a somewhat distant expression of the eyes, a soft voice and gentle manner of speech that retained the rolled provincial ‘r’, and a simple and -
Beethoven the Tax Cheat May 12th, 2020 On 5 March 1825, Ludwig van Beethoven once again received a little friendly reminder from the local tax authorities. This time, however, the reminder was not friendly at all. Titled “Third Reminder,” the curt message reads, “Ludwig v. Beethoven is -
Musical Schizophrenia: Mr. Jekyll & Dr. Hyde May 11th, 2020 I have observed a bipolarity in my musical self that reflects through my two main musical activities; improvising and composing. Both completing each other — not through their similarities towards a creative goal but rather through their differences of qualities -
Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963): The Ambassador of Cuban Music May 11th, 2020 The above picture was taken backstage after a performance at Hollywood Bowl in 1931. Ernesto Lecuona, far left, played George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the concert. Known as “The Cuban Gershwin,” Lecuona brought popular music onto the prestigious concert -
The Music of Poetry
Walt Whitman “Leaves of Grass” May 10th, 2020Walt Whitman (1819-1892) has been called “America’s poet,” and he is considered the father—not the inventor—of free verse. One of the most influential bards, he produced literature of timelessness that appealed to the American idea of democracy and equality. Believing -
Concerts and Concert-Going in the Time of Pandemic May 10th, 2020 As nations begin to tentatively emerge from lockdown in response to the coronavirus crisis, conversations are already taking place about how gatherings of people will be managed at a time when social distancing has become the norm to protect people -
Lieder ohne Worte
Composer’s Fancy and Player’s Delight May 9th, 2020How many composers can rightfully claim to have single-handedly invented a genre? Not that many, in fact, but Felix Mendelssohn would certainly be a strong candidate with his “Songs without Words.” Although Mendelssohn relied on an existing tradition of writing