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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Musical Voices of WWI (1914-18)
Ravel, Berg, and Butterworth February 28th, 2018Trench warfare, which has since been described as “futility in conflict,” gained its horrifying notoriety on the Western Front in the First World War. By the time the dust and poisonous gas clouds had settled on the “war to end -
Playing Together – Women’s Orchestras and Women in Orchestras February 27th, 2018 The late-19th and early 20th centuries saw a new phenomenon: all-women orchestras. Kept out of the traditional orchestras by reason of gender (it certainly wasn’t because of talent), women musicians came together to form their own orchestras. -
At the Center of the Musical Universe
Vincenzo Bellini February 26th, 2018Princess Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso certainly had a flair for the dramatic! Married at the age of 16 she was considered the richest heiress in Italy, and after separating from her husband she set up her Paris salon. And on 31 -
Small Is Beautiful – the Piano Miniature February 25th, 2018 When considering the piano repertoire, and piano instrumental music, we tend to focus on the big works in the canon – the great concertos and piano sonatas, and large-scale works like the Goldberg, Diabelli or Handel Variations, or the Rhapsody -
Forgotten Cellists: Gaspar Cassadó February 24th, 2018 Gaspar Cassadó was another distinguished virtuoso and composer of cello music. His Requiebros, and Dance of the Green Devil are two encore pieces we cellists love to play. -
Destination Dublin February 23rd, 2018 We associate Dublin, and, perhaps, all of Ireland with folk music. Yet, it has a distinguished set of classical composers beginning early in the modern era. Composers such as John Field, Charles Villiers Stanford, and Hamilton Harty started in Dublin -
Paul Wittgenstein
The Romantic Virtuoso February 21st, 2018While Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss have received the highest accolades in the historiography of classical music, the contemporary musical world of Paul Wittgenstein was numerously populated by a host of highly talented composers and performers. And a commission from -
Hymns and Fuguing Tunes in a Modern Style February 20th, 2018 The American composer Henry Cowell took a mid-18th century musical style and brought it forward to the modern world in his set of 18 Hymn and Fuguing Tunes, written between 1943 and 1964. A fuguing tune (not to be confused