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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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  • Dashon Burton Dashon Burton
    Furnishing a Roomful of Teeth: Dashon Burton on Freelancing and the Next Generation of Musicians Bass-baritone Dashon Burton hails from the Bronx, New York. Studying at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he was snapped up straight away post-graduation by
  • Peter Warlock: In League with the Devil Peter Warlock: In League with the Devil
    Witches, Warlocks, and Wizards are said to possess magical powers and are able to command supernatural forces. They have played an active part in human history and the imagination since ancient times. At various times in history, witchcraft and wizardry
  • The Pits—Orchestra Pits That is! The Pits—Orchestra Pits That is!
    A good part of a musician’s career is spent in a pit, an orchestra pit that is—for opera, ballet and musical theater productions. The pit—an open space beneath and in front of the stage—varies in shape and size and can
  • How You Should Feel in the Key of E minor How You Should Feel in the Key of E minor
    In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular affect he assigned for
  • The Water Spirits The Water Spirits
    The Oceanids are the water spirits, children of Oceanus, the Titan whose river encircles the world, and Tethys, his sister/wife who oversaw the rivers of the world. Oceanus and Tethys had 3,000 daughters and 3,000 sons. In Greek mythology, however,
  • Dances of Memory Dances of Memory
    In 1933, to celebrate both the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society and his memories of life in a remote town, Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) wrote the Dances of Galánta. The town of Galánta is located about 50 km to