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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A Tour Around Vienna
Suppé: Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien April 12th, 2024The Austrian dramatist Franz Xaver Told (1793–1849) had a home on the stage of the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna, producing a large number of plays for the theatre. He was talented, but worked so quickly that most of -
Johann Strauss II for Beginners: Eleven Pieces to Make You Love Strauss April 10th, 2024 Johann Strauss II was born into a famous and famously dysfunctional musical family just outside of Vienna in October 1825. As a boy, Johann pursued music against his father’s wishes. His father had begun a string quartet that grew into -
The Seven Best Chopin Works, According to YouTube April 8th, 2024 Frédéric Chopin is one of the most popular composers in classical music history. We all know that his romantic piano works have captured the imaginations of listeners around the world. But have you ever wondered which of his pieces are -
From Marching to Melodies: Timpani April 7th, 2024 The concept of percussion is rather easy: find something, hit it. Eventually, the development of hitting things to make definite sounds led to the development of the timpani – a tunable drum used to supplement the bass section of an -
World Piano Day 2024
The Persian Connection April 6th, 2024Did you know that “World Piano Day” is always celebrated on the 88th day of the year? The reasoning is relatively simple, 88 keys on the piano, celebration on the 88th day of the year, get it? Basically, that means -
Keeping Track of the Days in Music
Michael Zev Gordon’s Diary Pieces April 4th, 2024Starting in 2015, British composer Michael Zev Gordon started to create a musical diary of 6 or 7 pieces per year that capture a ‘one idea or emotional state or a kind of sound’. Sometimes the fragments in the pieces -
“Hornpipe”
The Egg-Dance of Easter April 1st, 2024The colourful Christian celebration of Easter is again around the corner. And for many people, the Easter egg best symbolises this festival of the resurrection of Jesus. During pre-Christianity, the egg was seen as a symbol of rebirth and life, -
The Hairpin Instrument: The Bassoon March 24th, 2024 The bassoon, the bass of the woodwind instruments, is also the tenor and sometimes the alto and soprano of the woodwind instruments. Its range when extended by its larger neighbor, the contrabassoon, permits it to double and reinforce all parts