For as long as composers have been writing music, they’ve been inspired by the mystery, mood, and mythology of the night. We’ve gathered ten pieces of classical music about the night that explore themes associated with the hours after dark,
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Classical Music With Cannons January 13th, 2024 Over the centuries, classical music composers have come up with many creative ways to up the ante when it comes to spectacle. One of the loudest ways they’ve done so is by incorporating cannons in their music, lending a new -
Sir Stephen Hough
The Composer January 13th, 2024One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Sir Stephen Hough combines an international career as a pianist with those of composer, writer, and painter. The first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (2001), Hough is a -
Jumping in Time
Edward Elgar’s 3 Characteristic Pieces January 12th, 2024English composer Edward Elgar (1857–1934) wrote his Three Characteristic Pieces in 1899, revising an earlier Suite in D. The first movement is the very Polish mazurka, a work in triple meter with a quick tempo. The mazurka was a stylized -
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and the Impact of Climate Change January 12th, 2024 The Four Seasons, the fabulous collection of four violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi have topped the Classical Music charts for decades on end. It has become part of modern culture, and the music is reshaped and arranged into different musical -
Breaking Boundaries
Xavier Foley Double Bass Player and Composer January 12th, 2024Xavier Foley, a dazzling double bass player, is a multi-talented musician who is breaking boundaries. A prizewinner of the 2016 Young Concert Association Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the 2014 Sphinx Competition, and a 2018 Recipient of the Avery Fisher Career -
Sweetest Harmony January 11th, 2024 Harmony in music is easy; you take two or more notes and play them together. Of course, all this developed into a complex system of chords and rules. In theory, harmony among nations and people should also be a simple -
Musicians and Artists: Alpaerts and Ensor January 11th, 2024 Flor Alpaerts: James Ensor Suite The Belgian artist and printmaker James Baron Ensor (1860–1949) left school at age 15 to start his artistic training and two years later entered the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. His early work was -
Beethoven’s Only Portrait: Stolen by the Nazis! January 10th, 2024 Beethoven sat for one portrait in his life. The painting that resulted from that one series of sittings has become an iconic image from cultural history. Here’s why: In it, Beethoven gazes past the viewer. He is seeing things that