Specific cities have inspired a huge amount of classical music over the years. Today, we’re looking at a selection of classical works explicitly connected to major cities, examining how each composer responded to each place. Some pieces reflect civic pride
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- Famous Musical Fathers and Sons
Musical Dynasties July 19th, 2014Paul and Yan Pascal Tortelier Sons frequently follow in their father’s footsteps. Sons of Maestros often end up waving batons like the Tortelier family. I was always a fan of Paul Tortelier the French cellist, conductor and composer. He played -
Hino Nacional Brasileiro July 17th, 2014 Hino Nacional do Brasil (National Anthem of Brazil) FIFA limits the songs to only 90 seconds in order to get the games up and going, but most national anthems are longer than that; the Hino Nacional Brasileiro is no exception. -
Johann Mattheson July 16th, 2014 A Composer, Scholar and a Gentleman! Take for example Johann Mattheson (1681-1764), a prolific composer, singer, organist, writer, lexicographer, diplomat, and music theorist. Born in Hamburg as the third, and only surviving son of a local tax collector, Mattheson displayed -
Reach Out, Freak Out? July 15th, 2014 There’s a storm brewing in classical music. The quandary: #1 how far are we willing to go to achieve reaching out? Can we pursue change without freaking out our musicians and loyal concert attendees? #2 how do we remedy the - Death to the Diva
Gluck and the Reform Opera July 14th, 2014According to his contemporaries, Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) was one of the greatest masters of opera seria. Hasse had married the fabled Italian soprano Faustina Bordoni, and he specifically created the title role of his opera Cleofide of 1731 for - Heroic Self
Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 (1897/8) July 13th, 2014With his three last and largest tone poems – Ein Heldenleben (1897/8) the Sinfonia Domestica (1903) and Eine Alpensinfonie (1915) – Richard Strauss faced mounting criticism, charges of excess, megalomania, superficiality, and bad taste. For the eminent Richard Strauss scholar -
Conservatoire de Paris July 13th, 2014 The prestigious Conservatoire de Paris is the next stop on our Music College world tour. Alexandre Pansard-Ricordeau, the director of communications, talks to me about the strong links this conservatoire has with both the musical life of France, and further -
Alma’s Tenth Symphony July 12th, 2014 In the summer of 1910, Gustav and Alma Mahler once more made their way to Toblach for their annual summer routine. Their personal relationship, however, was becoming severely strained. Much of the marital discontent can be traced back to the
