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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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Spotlight

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  • From the Eye to the Ear: Shape Note Singing From the Eye to the Ear: Shape Note Singing
    How can you sing when your notes aren’t round? How do you interpret a diamond-shaped note or a triangle? This isn’t avant-garde notation, but one that dates back a couple of centuries and is still alive today. This particular hymn-singing
  • Hommage à Chopin Hommage à Chopin
    As a young critic, Robert Schumann famously introduced Frédéric Chopin to European audiences with the words, “Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!” In a later review on the Chopin piano concertos, Schumann suggested, “If the autonomous, mighty monarch of the North
  • The Great Women Artists Who Shaped Music III – Maria Theresia von Paradis The Great Women Artists Who Shaped Music III – Maria Theresia von Paradis
    It might surprise you to know that we can trace three hundred years of outstanding women pianists. They played for pleasure, for their livelihoods and they were inspirations to composers. We would not have superstars Martha Argerich and Yuja Wang
  • How I Found the Right Music Teacher for My Children How I Found the Right Music Teacher for My Children
    “How do I find the right music teacher for my children?” This must be a frequently asked question among concerned parents who want nothing but the best for their children. Their wish-list for the ideal teacher inevitably includes the following
  • Music and Art: Delacroix Music and Art: Delacroix
    The French Romantic artist, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), created his masterwork Liberty Leading the People in 1830. Its unforgettable imagery of Liberty, holding the tricolor representing liberty, equality, and fraternity, leading Parisians of all classes as they take up arm and
  • War and Music: Waterloo II War and Music: Waterloo II
    We’ve been looking at how the decisive battle of Waterloo in June 1815 was the inspiration for many composers. Beethoven’s program work Weillington’s Victory is probably the one work that still remains in the repertoire, albeit more as an embarrassment
  • Béla Bartók: Discovering his musical voice Béla Bartók: Discovering his musical voice
    Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was one of the most influential figures in the history of classical music. Composer, performer, educator, and ethnomusicologist, Bartók’s powerfully shaped the way subsequent generations approached and listened to music. Born near the Hungarian city of Nagyszentmiklós,