In classical music, the Romantic Era lasted from around 1810 to around 1910. That century gave us some of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire. Nineteenth-century composers like Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and others elevated the symphony
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Developing a Gregorian Idea May 26th, 2016 Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) started working on his Tre Preludi sopra melodie gregoriane (Three Preludes on Gregorian Melodies) in 1919, finishing them in 1921. His wife, Elisa Olivieri-Sangiacomo, had brought Gregorian chant to his attention. -
Nielsen and the Four Temperaments May 25th, 2016 One of the fundamental beliefs of Greek medicine, and one that extended up to the 19th century and the beginnings of modern medicine, was that of the four humours that regulated the body. The four humours were the four liquids -
Trouble in the Barnyard: Stravinsky and Renard May 24th, 2016 Renard, the Fox, is a long-established character in the folk tales of many countries. He’s reputed to be sly, be a creature cunning and trickery. Stravinsky took up the character in his comic masterpiece Renard, or, to give it its -
Minors of the Majors
Niccolò Paganini: Concertino for Horn, Bassoon and Orchestra, MS 65 May 23rd, 2016“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening! Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) is customarily credited with representing the -
Music à la “Mode”
Dorian Universe May 22nd, 2016Pope Gregory I (540—604) was something of a religious superstar during his days. A talented administrator who initially served as a prefect of Rome, he eventually managed to establish papal supremacy. This doctrine assured supreme and universal power over the -
More Audience Antics: Let’s Play Audience Disruption Bingo! May 22nd, 2016 Attending a classical music concert still elicits visions of powdered wigs and stuffy concert halls, stiff collars and blue-haired ladies in mink stoles. Inaccessible, incomprehensible, controlled. One doesn’t know when to clap, what to wear, how to behave. -
Théodore Dubois and the Hooligans May 21st, 2016 During his early days as a composition student at the Paris Conservatoire, Maurice Ravel was called a “mediocrely gifted debutant, who will perhaps become something if not someone in a about ten years, if he works hard.” Much of this -
How You Should Feel in the Key of F Sharp Major / G flat major May 20th, 2016 In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, E major and minor,and B major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces