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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Dvořák: Symphony No. 8
Premiered Today in 1890 February 2nd, 2019Antonín Dvořák celebrated his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts by composing a symphony. He worked on his 8th Symphony for almost 3 months at his summer resort in Bohemia, and he conducted the premiere in -
Welcome to the Year of the Earth Pig! February 1st, 2019 On 5 February 2019, we say goodbye to the Earth Dog, and welcome the year of the Earth Pig. Since it takes 60 years to scroll through every animal sign and element in both yin and yang aspects, this closes -
Sergei Nakariakov February 1st, 2019 ‘Absorb as much as possible from life around you’ Russian-Israeli trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov performs in Hong Kong on 16 February with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, playing works by Mozart and Jörg Widmann. -
Signor Alberti’s Moving Bass Line January 31st, 2019 Not invented by, but rather named for Domenico Alberti, who used this device extensively in his own keyboard sonatas, the Alberti Bass is a moving figure in the bass or left hand of keyboard music, derived from a three-note chord. -
The Inspiration of Imagination – Dracula January 30th, 2019 There, in the shadows, a figure moves. Clothed in black, with a face seemingly drained of all life and colour, with long fingernails the better to catch you, it’s Count Dracula. -
The Organist and the Poetess
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger and Franziska von Hoffnaaß January 29th, 2019He was the “Wunderkind” from Lichtenstein, and she a poetess of distinction. They got married in 1867, and although the union remained childless, their marriage was a happy one. One might actually consider it the perfect relationship; she supplied the -
Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Premiered Today in 1905 January 29th, 2019Alma Mahler severely took her husband Gustav to task for composing a series of orchestral songs on texts dealing with the death of children. Merely two weeks after the birth of their second child, Alma found it incomprehensible and feared -
At the Center of the Musical Universe
Franz Schubert III January 28th, 2019In all, the remarkable collection of Schubert’s Lieder transcriptions by Franz Liszt totaled 58 songs. Liszt first handed twelve of these piano transcriptions to a Viennese publisher in 1838 and his concluding efforts emerged 10 years later in 1848.