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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Synergy July 8th, 2018 synergy syn·er·gy (sĭn’ər-jē) n. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. “those three minutes of perfection – when time stands still and the music -
Ole Bull and the American Senator’s daughter July 7th, 2018 He was one of the greatest performing artists of the 19th century! Ole Bull (1810-1880) was a child prodigy, and he gave his public debut as a soloist at age 9. Although intending to study theology and/or law, he decided -
Haydn: Symphony Nr. 92 in G major “Oxford”
Premiered Today in 1791 July 7th, 2018By the mid-1780s Joseph Haydn was the most famous composer in Europe. Although he had worked in relative obscurity in the service of the Esterházy family for many decades, his reputation had spread far and wide. And when Johann Peter -
Saying Goodbye for a While: Schubert to Walcher July 6th, 2018 In the month before his friend Ferdinand Walcher quit Vienna for a posting in Venice, Schubert had been a torchbearer at Beethoven’s funeral. The death of his greatest inspiration, whom he had only been able to meet days before Beethoven’s -
Child’s Play
Piano Music For and About Children July 4th, 2018Music for children has inspired composers from J S Bach to the present day. Bach’s Twelve Little Preludes were included in Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s Klavierbüchlein, a collection of short pieces for one of Bach’s sons, and intended to help the -
George Rochberg July 3rd, 2018 “Five Lines, Four Spaces” As a composer and teacher George Rochberg (1918-2005) strongly believed that “music should express the passions of the human heart.” A robust proponent of serial techniques in the mid-1960s, Rochberg eventually sought new expressions by returning -
Thomas Guggeis July 2nd, 2018 Berlin to Stuttgart I speak to young German conductor Thomas Guggeis on the eve of his first day as First Kappellmeister at Staatsoper Stuttgart. He is in Berlin for some concerts before moving to Stuttgart, having recently finished studying in -
J.S. Bach: Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147
Premiered Today in 1723 July 2nd, 2018Say what you want, but Johann Sebastian Bach certainly knew a good tune when he heard one! And he certainly was not shy reusing his own tunes when time was of the essence. Bach took up the position of Thomaskantor,