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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The Music I Haven’t Played yet… March 15th, 2020 The author Umberto Eco has a library of an astonishing 30,000+ books, most of which he has not, and probably never will read. Nassim Nicholas Talib (author of The Black Swan) calls this an “anti-library” and believes it represents an -
Women Conductors Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
JoAnn Falletta March 14th, 2020Celebrating her 20th season at the helm of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra this year, JoAnn Falletta is the first woman conductor to be appointed music director of a major American orchestra. At a time when women conductors had to overcome -
Doug’s 10 All-Time Favourite Music Pieces March 13th, 2020 A Moderated Compendium of Influences One of the most laborious tasks for an artist; listing, comparing and rating other artists or their works. Deciding which to prefer and which to reject, which is more important and which is less. There -
The Psychology in Film Music III March 13th, 2020 Musical gestures in some films are all about mirroring or inferring movement. But, as we see in certain movies like Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the music suggests the mental condition of the lead character, Jimmy Stewart, who suffers from vertigo. This spinning -
Prolonging the Pain – Jost’s Dichterliebe March 12th, 2020 How do you modernize a classic? In the summer of 2015, composer Christian Jost wanted to recompose Schumann’s Dichterliebe for a particular voice, but the singer, his wife mezzo-soprano Stella Doufexis, died before he could even write one note. The -
Alexander Serov and Valentina Bergman
“Too Bad, You’re Not a Boy” March 11th, 2020Valentina Semyonovna Bergman (1846-1924) was born into a Russian merchant family of German-Jewish descent. Her parents converted to Lutheranism before she was born, and they operated a successful shop specializing in colonial wares. Valentina showed great musical promise from an -
Beethoven’s Lairs
“Probusgasse 6, Heiligenstadt” March 10th, 2020In October 1802, Beethoven moved into a roughly 40 square meter apartment at Probusgasse 6 in the trendy spa town of Heiligenstadt. In his day, it would have been a substantial journey from the Vienna city center, and when Beethoven -
Escaping COVID-19
Feel-Good Music I March 9th, 2020It’s difficult to escape COVID-19 these days. With new cases and emerging hot zones identified nearly every day—not to mention the rising death count of those who have succumbed to the virus—this outbreak is starting to frustrate medical practitioners, health