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Ten Excerpts from Robert Schumann’s Love Letters to Clara
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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  • Destination Moscow Destination Moscow
    The heart of Russia is its capital, Moscow. Home to some of the most important conservatories in the country, Moscow has been a musical inspiration to both orchestral and choral composers through the ages. As a musical center, it has
  • Piano Fantasies Piano Fantasies
    The musical Fantasy (or Fantasia or Fantasie) has its roots in improvisation and rarely follows a strict musical structure (such as Sonata or Ternary form). In this respect the Fantasy is related to the Impromptu. The term was first applied
  • I Am the Very Model: Gilbert and Sullivan and Light Opera II I Am the Very Model: Gilbert and Sullivan and Light Opera II
    Gilbert and Sullivan’s next opera made its surprising debut in New York, rather than London, in an attempt to secure American copyright, which at that time was rather a pirate industry of itself. The Pirates of Penzance opened on New
  • Normalized Sexism in Music Normalized Sexism in Music
    In 2015, a student coming up to her A-level exams looked at the composers assigned for the music syllabus. 63 composers and all male. Jessy McCabe brought this to the attention of the Edexcel program and a month later, Ms.
  • Opera gains a new fan Opera gains a new fan
    [Opera is] more than entertainment. Opera offers an insight into the complexities of the human psyche – it is a metaphor for, or an exposition, even, of our own personal dreams and nightmares… – Kevin Volans, composer Last week my
  • Forgotten Cellists: Antonio Janigro Forgotten Cellists: Antonio Janigro
    If you listen to the distinguished Italian cellist Antonio Janigro, and his pure, resonant sound in the Bach Suites, you’ll encounter a master of depth and perception. Such beautiful playing. One of the great artists of the twentieth century, cellist,