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 Kurt Weill Sensation
“Song of the White Cheese” December 14th, 2017It’s exceedingly rare, but autograph musical scores by some of the great composers in the Western classical tradition are still being discovered! In 1999, a miniature Beethoven string quartet was rather accidentally found in a chest of papers in Cornwall. -
Ring Bells! Sing Songs!: The Musical III December 12th, 2017 The post WWII era saw more social topics being taken up in the musical such as social injustice, union-busting, and racism, it also saw the introduction of international settings that were normal rather than fantastical. -
The Lighter Side of Music
German Cabaret December 11th, 2017Around the turn of the 20th century, the French cabaret was a gathering place for the artistic and literary elite. It projected social and artistic ideals and was widely imitated through new establishments and touring performers. Among the traveling stars -
Silly Symphonies, Loony Tunes, and Merrie Melodies
Classical Music in Animation II December 10th, 2017One of the wonders of animation in the 1930 and ‘40s was the breadth of classical music. Walt Disney took this seriously in Fantasia. Intended to be an ongoing series of settings of classical music, the feature-length cartoon (and some -
Responsibilities
Of audiences, performers and concert venues December 10th, 2017A concert is an occasion, an event, and as such has its own special etiquette and “rules of engagement”. As the audience we have certain responsibilities, including arriving on time, sitting quietly during the performance, showing our appreciation for the -
Mapping the Musical Genome:
The Lassus Family December 9th, 2017According to popular legend, Orlande de Lassus, born in 1530 or 1532 in the Franco-Flemish province of Hainaut, was abducted three times because of the beauty of his voice! Probably pure fabrication, it nevertheless provides a fictional narrative that explains -
Destination Tokyo December 8th, 2017 You want to check out the city ahead of the crush of the 2020 Summer Olympics, here’s a bit of travel music to see the city. City sounds, traditional sounds, the modern and the antique are all part of Japanese -
Dmitry Kabalevsky December 7th, 2017 “Music helps children to see the world” Dmitry Kabalevsky was destined for a career in mathematics and economics, but his fascination with the arts steered his career in entirely different directions. Hailed by Soviet authorities as the guiding light of