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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Wedding behind Bars
Giovanni Paisiello and Cecilia Pallini March 3rd, 2016A shotgun wedding is commonly arranged to avoid embarrassment due to an unplanned pregnancy. As the name suggests, it is based on a supposed scenario that the father of the pregnant daughter must resort to some kind of forceful coercion -
Giovanni Paisiello: Melodic Innocence March 2nd, 2016 The comic opera Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) became Giovanni Paisiello’s greatest success. Composed and first staged during Paisiello’s tenure at the court in St. Petersburg, the opera swept like wildfire through European theaters. Between 1783 and -
Norma Nahoun March 1st, 2016 ‘Don’t be afraid to go out there and sing’ Our conversation resumes after a brief lapse in signal. ‘The signal is terrible sometimes,’ she exclaims. ‘You’d think in a big city like Paris there’d be no problem, but sometimes it -
Minors of the Majors
Antonín Dvořák: Mass in D major, Op. 86 February 29th, 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! -
Music by a Medium: The Story of Rosemary Brown February 28th, 2016 The little girl was seven years old when she awoke and saw a ghost standing beside her. His hair was long and white, and he wore a cassock. He told her that he had been a composer and pianist in -
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
Shakespeare and Music VI – Macbeth February 28th, 2016“Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” Bloodstains cannot be scoured nor erased in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. Intense ambition and a consuming lust for power lead the Scottish general Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth to commit murder and to seize -
Sex and Music: Medieval France February 27th, 2016 The fifteenth-century French chanson was not only a popular light vocal genre but a wonderful vehicle for all sorts of lasciviousness. In Josquin des Prez’ song “Faulte d’argent,” the anonymous poet complains that “Lack of money is unparalleled misery….,” but -
How You Should Feel in the Key of C Minor February 26th, 2016 The Austrian composer and pianist Ernst Pauer (1826-1905) was a student of Mozart’s son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, before moving to London in 1851. He was one of the first piano professors at the Royal College of Music and also