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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Blowing the Budget
Giacomo Meyerbeer October 6th, 2014It is prohibitively expensive to stage an opera. In 2012 alone, the Metropolitan Opera in New York had expenses totaling 317 million US Dollars! For one, you need singers, an orchestra of roughly 80 players and a conductor. Some popular -
Cigarettes, Chocolate Milk, and Threesomes
All in a Night’s Work for Rufus Wainwright October 5th, 2014Ah, the Late Night Proms. The only time you can spend in the Albert Hall in summer and not be glared at for shuffling your feet or clapping spontaneously. Starting at 10.15pm, finishing at 11.45, you’d think that this nocturnal -
The Waltz King – Three Strauss Brothers October 4th, 2014 Johann Strauss II, or Junior, or the younger The Waltz King, (not related to Richard), composed over 400 of the world’s most beloved waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, dance music and operettas. These include the perennial favorites: An der Schonen Blauen Donau -
Love and Death in Music October 3rd, 2014 Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde tells the story of good intentions gone wrong. Tristan is sent to Ireland to fetch the beautiful Isolde, the intended bride of King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan killed Isolde’s fiancé, Morold, and Isolde is in despair -
Diversion of the Mind
Victor Borge October 2nd, 2014I always find music a fun thing to do: musical instruments are ‘played’, and the word ‘music’ lends itself to other words like ‘amuse’, ‘amusing’ and ‘amusement’. If ones looks up the meaning of ‘amusement’ on OED.com, one would find -
The Stepmother Syndrome
Charles Burney and Elizabeth Allen October 1st, 2014After Esther Burney died of cancer in September 1762, Charles Burney remained a widower for five years. The reason it took him so long to remarry and find a new mother for his six children was because Elizabeth Allen turned -
Charles Burney September 30th, 2014 Music is an innocent Luxury Charles Burney (1726-1814) may only have been a relatively minor composer, but he was definitely a giant as a writer about music and the music scene of his time. In fact, his four-volume General History -
Gilbert and Gewandhaus – and so many singers September 29th, 2014 I love the Proms. Despite the fact that everyone always seems to be ill. Always. Of course there’ll be the odd cough in the quiet bits like at any concert, but in between movements is when the army of splutterers