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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Music and Art : Stravinsky and Picasso January 24th, 2016 Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes brought music, art, and dance into the 20th century. Eschewing the traditional, Diaghilev worked with the leading artists in all fields to bring a new life to a fairly moribund art form. -
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda (1801-1866): The Missing Link January 23rd, 2016 In 2016 we remember the 150th anniversary of the passing of Johann Baptist Wenzel Kalliwoda. Remember might be a somewhat misleading word, as the 20th century never managed to acknowledge his contributions to music. Interest in the composer was reawakened -
Léo Delibes: A Life of muted passions January 22nd, 2016 You might never have heard of the composer Léo Delibes, but I bet you are familiar with at least one of his tunes. I am, of course, talking of the “Flower Duet” from his opera Lakmé. The opera has barely -
Léo Delibes January 21st, 2016 Let’s dance! The reputation of Léo Delibes (1836-1891) rests almost exclusively with his two 90-minute ballet scores Coppélia and Sylvia. For the first time in the history of music, Delibes had crafted ballet scores of symphonic proportions. Full of memorable -
Bigamist Prokofiev?
Sergei Prokofiev and Mira Mendelson January 20th, 2016Dictatorial societies are notorious for fostering environments of suspicion and fear. It is always chilling to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s three-volume narrative The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn relied on eyewitness testimony and primary research as well as his own experiences as a -
Pierre Boulez: Praise be to amnesia! January 19th, 2016 Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) was never particularly interested in making friends! Rather, he became thoroughly absorbed in a mission to write music worthy of his time, and to fight cynicism and indifference wherever he found them. That he mercilessly dismantled the -
Minors of the Majors
Johann Sebastian Bach: Preise dein Glück, gesegnetes Sachsen, BWV 215 January 18th, 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 and Art: Hindemith and Grünewald January 17th, 2016 Most of the music and art connections have been fairly simple: a picture of art and piece of music. In the case of Grünewald and Hindemith, we have a more complex inspiration that also has a political side. Matthias Grünewald