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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Rach goes to the Movies July 11th, 2015 Just four days shy of his 70th birthday, Sergei Rachmaninoff died of melanoma on 28 March 1943 in Beverly Hills, California. He always wished to be buried at his estate in Switzerland, but the ravages of WWII only allowed for -
Don’t, Won’t, Can’t July 11th, 2015 Songs tell us about all sorts of things: love, the beauty of spring, and all about happiness. But there are lots of songs that just go to the negative. When we look at songs that say don’t, won’t or can’t, -
Hildegard von Bingen: Nun more versatile! July 10th, 2015 She experienced “shades of the living light” at age three, and understood that she was experiencing visions by the age of five. Her parents, a family of the free lower nobility, had absolutely no idea how to deal with the -
Instruments of the Orchestra XI: The Trombone July 9th, 2015 The trombone, or large trumpet (Tromba= trumpet, -one= suffix meaning ‘big’) in Italian, is a lower voice in the brass wind ensemble. Unlike the trumpet that started as a simple tube and now has valves, the trombone was always operated -
Leonard Bernstein: The Spirit of New York July 8th, 2015 Leonard Bernstein had always longed to write the Great American Opera. Yet, as it happens, he ended up writing the great American musical! In 1949, the theater producer and dance choreographer Jerome Robbins envisioned a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo -
Miss Manners— Orchestra Style July 7th, 2015 There once was a young man in our cello section, a very talented musician but a little green, who would practice all of my orchestral solos on stage, loudly, for all to hear. I tried not to get rattled—(did it -
Gli italiani a Londra: The Invasion of the Italians July 6th, 2015 London occupies a unique place in the musical life of the world. It has been a focus for musicians and musical happenings since the 17th century and it was London that the leading composers of the day came to make -
Voices of the Conservatoire de Paris I July 5th, 2015 In a recent Interlude article, Oliver Pashley introduced us to the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris. This venerable institution has been an integral part of French musical life, and annually trains a significant number of high-profile national and international musicians. And