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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The Middle Voice: The Viola May 5th, 2024 Of all the instruments of the string family, the viola is the butt of most jokes (the Viola player stops for a coffee after a long concert, and is sitting in the restaurant when he realizes that he’s left his -
More Forgotten Piano Sonatas May 5th, 2024 For “World Pianist Day” 2023, I wrote a little blog featuring some rarely performed or forgotten piano sonatas. As you know, the piano repertoire is absolutely vast, and at the end of my blog, I always invite readers to let -
Haydn for Beginners: Eleven Pieces to Make You Love Haydn May 4th, 2024 Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau, Austria, in 1732. Haydn overcame a difficult childhood to become one of the most influential composers in the history of classical music. Here are a few biographical tidbits about him: Haydn -
Fanciful Stories in Music
Dittersdorf: “Ovid Symphonies” III May 4th, 2024In an earlier episode, I told the story that Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799) planned on writing a total of 15 symphonies based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. He presented the Viennese publisher Artaria with a detailed outline of his grand design. -
Unique Concertos II
Works by Piazzolla, Aho, Huber, Tower, and Tan Dun May 3rd, 2024Let’s continue to explore more concertos for unique instruments. The Argentinian composer and virtuoso performer Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) revolutionized the tango by turning disreputable and downright earthy folk music into a sophisticated form of art. Considered the father of the -
Music at the Hotel II
The Marlborough-Blenheim in the 1910s and ‘20s April 30th, 2024After the programme on Friday, Saturday was for dancing in the Ballroom. The dancing started at 9 pm, and the first two dances were for children. After that, the adults could take the floor. The music would have been provided -
The Elegant Strings: The Violin April 28th, 2024 The violin, the best known of the instruments of classical music, is known by its shape – an hour-glass waist and an arched bridge. These are our first clues that this is a bowed instrument – the waist on the -
Fanciful Stories in Music
Dittersdorf: “Ovid Symphonies” II April 27th, 2024Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799) was a highly respected violin virtuoso and prolific composer. It might be difficult to imagine today, but his popularity was said to have rivalled Haydn, Gluck, and Mozart. I think that might be a little