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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Your Guide to Adoring Classical Music
Works for Small Ensemble November 24th, 2018Classical music has transformative power, as perhaps you’ve noted in the previous article, which features large symphonic works. A piece of music can transport you to a different time and place and the collective response for and from the audience, -
What Does Nothing Sound Like in Music?
Haydn’s Representation of Chaos November 23rd, 2018What does nothing sound like in music? Silence would be a good starting point, but then it wouldn’t be music. Amazingly, Haydn’s oratorio The Creation “opens with nothing short of a musical impossibility, the sound of infinite nothingness.” A contemporary -
In Touch with Annie Yim, Pianist November 22nd, 2018 Annie Yim is a pianist who creates intriguing “conceptual concerts” of classical and contemporary music in collaboration with other artists. Her innovative concerts multiply artistic roles and dissolve boundaries across artistic disciplines and media. Her latest project, ‘Conceptual Concert in -
Breathing Space November 22nd, 2018 “Never play faster than you can think” This well-known maxim by pianist, teacher and composer Tobias Matthay has a relevance both in day-to-day practice, and also in performance. When we practice, in our eagerness to move on to a new -
Saving Polyphonic Church Music November 21st, 2018 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/26-1594) may have been born in the city of Palestrina, as indicated by his name, or may have been born in Rome, where his father may be the ‘Santo de Prenestino’ on the 1525 census. In -
Mahler: Lied von der Erde
Premiered Today in 1911 November 20th, 2018In the summer 1907, Gustav Mahler’s mother in law suffered a mild heart attack. When the district physician was called to examine her, Gustav Mahler invited the physician to also take a look at him. To everyone’s surprise, Mahler was -
Giaochino Rossini and Olympe Pélissier
“Eating, loving, singing, and digesting are the four acts of the comic opera known as life” November 20th, 2018It is not clear when Giaochino Rossini and Olympe Pélissier first met, but by 1832 they were undoubtedly in a relationship. He had departed for Paris in 1830 and had left his wife Isabella Colbran unceremoniously behind. She was an -
When Western Choirs Sing Indian Music – Part III November 19th, 2018 The most common form of popular music in India is film music – songs from the movies, and Sperry has not shied away from adapting this form for choirs. Popular Music in Choral Format As mentioned in Part I of