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 Virtuoso Parent September 30th, 2018 Following my earlier article about respect between the teacher, student and parent of the student, I would now like to celebrate the “virtuoso parent”. -
On the Occasion of the Death of Montserrat Caballé – Spanish Singing School September 29th, 2018 The 1970s were not short of operatic talent. The Met and Covent Garden regularly boasted extraordinary singers such as Luciano Pavarotti, Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Scotto; even Birgit Nilsson was still active. But then Spain exported a string of singers of -
On This Day
29 September: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, Op. 135 Was Premiered September 29th, 2018In his memoirs—supposedly related to Solomon Volkov—Dmitri Shostakovich suggests, “Fear of death may be the most intense emotion of all. I sometimes think that there is no deeper feeling. The irony lies in the fact that under the influence of -
Bringing Indigenous Sounds to the Symphony September 28th, 2018 In 1935-36, the Mexican composer and conductor Carlos Chávez brought out his second symphony, the Sinfonía India. Written in 1935 while he was in New York, the symphony received its premiere in a radio broadcast with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra -
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat
Premiered Today in 1918 September 28th, 2018Dwindling economic resources and the unprecedented sufferings inflicted by the “Great War” forced composers to search for new avenues of artistic and musical expression. Taking refuge in Switzerland, the young Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet introduced Stravinsky to the author Charles-Ferdinand -
Creating a Musical ‘Scrapbook’ September 27th, 2018 When I was preparing for my performance Diplomas – and indeed whenever I start working on new music – I put together a ‘scrapbook’ of music and other materials (articles, interviews, pictures etc), in effect for reference to help with -
At the Center of the Musical Universe
Giacomo Meyerbeer September 26th, 2018Giacomo Meyerbeer’s five-act opera Robert le diable premiered at the Paris Opera on 21 November 1831. It was the first of four works for which Meyerbeer was to become one of the most prominent composers of opera at the time. -
Bernstein: West Side Story
Premiered Today in 1957 September 26th, 2018On 26 September 1957, the Winter Garden Theatre—one of the Broadway theatres located between 50th and 51st Streets in midtown Manhattan—opened with a musical inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. With a libretto by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen