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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Wagner: Parsifal
Premiered Today in 1882 July 26th, 2018Hoping to gain financial independence, Richard Wagner was eager to establish an annual music festival that would realize his particular vision of music and theatre. Initially he contemplated Munich, but his extravagant and scandalous behavior in that city caused him -
Early Works July 26th, 2018 The other day I was looking through the earliest articles written for my blog. Some of my early writing is horribly self-conscious, and evidently written with little expectation of anyone actually reading it. But however much this “juvenilia” may make -
Competing In a New World – An Interview with Samantha Crawford July 25th, 2018 Soprano Samantha Crawford was recently a finalist at the Hong Kong International Operatic Singing Competition (HKIOSC) and spoke with us about the competition and her thoughts on the whole competition process. -
Making Percussion a True Soloist – John Corigliano’s The Conjurer July 24th, 2018 Percussion can be anything from the lowly triangle to the majestic piano and all struck things between. In his recent work Conjurer, John Corigliano took on the difficult task of writing a percussion concerto. In his own words, he said -
Penderecki: Viola Concerto
Premiered Today in 1983 July 24th, 201824 July 1983 marked the 200th birthday of Simón Bolívar, known around South America as “El Libertador.” The Venezuelan military and political leader played a significant role in the establishment of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama as sovereign -
Mozart and The Deluded Bridegroom July 23rd, 2018 In a letter to his father, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made a reference to a seven-member Italian opera troupe visiting Vienna. That troupe arrived in the Austrian capital during Lent 1783, and first performed on 22 April 1783 in Antonio Salieri’s -
The Musical Bed of Sadiq Muhammad Khan IV July 22nd, 2018 We’ve all heard of musical chairs, a game of elimination involving players, chairs, and music. With one fewer chair than players, when the music stops the player who fails to sit on a chair is eliminated. A chair is then -
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Premiered Today in 1864 July 22nd, 2018On 22 July 1864 Clara Schumann and conductor Hermann Levi played through a piano sonata for two pianos by Johannes Brahms. Clara was overwhelmed by the music’s grandeur, and wrote to the composer. “The work is splendid, but it cannot