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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A Joseph Joachim Rediscovery
Scottish (Irish) Fantasy May 21st, 2018On 31 May 1852, at the Philharmonic society of London, Joseph Joachim gave the first performance of his Fantasia on Scottish Airs. That concert also included Mendelssohn’s violin concerto, but the reviewer wasn’t impressed, “Herr Joachim’s playing of Mendelssohn’s concerto, -
The Opera Scene in China May 20th, 2018 On a cold windy night of December 2017, I travelled from Shanghai to Nanjing on a secret mission. I was invited by an anonymous patron who would like me to pay a visit to the just inaugurated Jiangsu Centre for -
Audience Watching May 20th, 2018 One of the secondary pleasures of going to live music in concert is “audience watching”. Different artists and repertoire attract different audiences, and I love observing audience behaviour before, during and after a concert. The ritual of concert going and -
Cellists Klengel and Becker: Towering Figures of the 19th Century May 19th, 2018 Like many other young cellists, I encountered Julius Klengel through his books of Technical Exercises in All Keys and his Daily Exercises. I wanted to play concertos not hours fixated on scales, arpeggios, and bowing exercises. But my father insisted, -
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
Premiered Today in 1890 May 17th, 2018What do you get when you mix religiosity with sexual passion? Audiences got the answer on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. It was on that date that Pietro Mascagni’s one-act melodrama Cavalleria Rusticana saw its official -
Polish Sensibility: the Mazurkas of Chopin and Szymanowski May 16th, 2018 Say ‘Mazurka’ and most people will reply ‘Chopin’. Fryderyk Chopin wrote at least 69 pieces in this form: 45 published during his lifetime, 13 published posthumously, and a further 11, which are known but where the manuscripts are in private -
Gershwin’s Preludes May 15th, 2018 From Bach onward, the idea of a cycle of preludes has intrigued composer. George Gershwin (1898-1937) took up the task of writing an intended 24, only completed 6 and only published 3. -
Mapping the Musical Genome
The Mason Family May 14th, 2018It’s not an exaggeration to declare that the Mason family decidedly and uniquely contributed to American music during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The patriarch Lowell Mason (1792-1872) was a significant composer of church music, including many original hymns.