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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Music in Murakami February 25th, 2014 Those familiar with the novels of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami know that there are recurring themes throughout his books such as jazz, cats, and women’s ears, to name just a few. In his 2002 novel, Kafka On The Shore, -
The Monteverdi Puzzle
Vespers for the Blessed Virgin February 24th, 2014Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers of the Blessed Virgin The musicologist Denis Arnold once famously suggested that to perform the Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin), composed by Claudio Monteverdi is “to court disaster.” Arnold further asserts, “To write -
The Child Prodigy as Social Experiment February 23rd, 2014 Saint-SaensPiano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22 The American pianist Philippa Schuyler made her concert debut while still a child, giving piano recitals and frequently appearing on the radio. Born in 1931, the mixed-race child was the daughter -
Objects of Desire
Stephen Collins Foster and Susan Pentland February 23rd, 2014Stephen Collins Foster grew up in Alleghany City, a Pennsylvania municipality located at the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. The Foster’s shared a large two-family house with the family of a retired Army Officer. Captain Pentland was a -
A Little Nibble of Mozart and Something More February 22nd, 2014 When you’re in Austria, you’re assaulted by images of Mozart – not Mozart the Composer but Mozart the Chocolate. The Mirabell Chocolate Factory in Salzburg is the creator of the famous Mozartkugel. It’s a little ball of milk chocolate, filled -
Death by Autoerotic Asphyxiation
Frantisek Kotzwara February 21st, 2014František Kočvara (1730-1791), who thankfully changed his spelling to Frantisek Kotzwara after settling in London, originally hailed from Bohemia. He was a talented performer, equally versed on the viola, double bass, piano, violin, cello, oboe, flute, bassoon and cittern. He -
Opening Doors with Music February 20th, 2014 In his 2010 novel, The Elephant Keepers’ Children, Danish author Peter Høeg uses Schubert songs to very practical end. One of the major characters in the book is a sonic engineer – she creates mechanisms that operate through speech or -
More about Ernst Toch February 19th, 2014 Wait, what? This guy wrote film music as well as classical stuff? Pfft… Sound familiar? It’s interesting nowadays how film composers are often sneered at in relation to their more ‘serious’ counterparts. However, there was a whole generation of composers