In 1918, between his Flute Concerto and his third symphony, Carl Nielsen wrote one of his few tone poems: Pan og Syrinx (Pan and Syrinx). The nymph Syrinx, known for her chastity, and vowing, as a follower of the huntress
Latest article
Spotlight
-
Here Be A Dragon February 2nd, 2024 With a joyous call on his horn, Siegfried announces his presence in the great forest of Fafner. Turned into a dragon by the lure of the Ring, Fafner, one of the two giants who built Valhalla for Wotan, is being -
A Major Minor Opera: Nadia Boulanger’s La ville morte, The Performance January 31st, 2024 In the first part of this article “A Major Minor Opera: Nadia Boulanger’s La Ville morte, A History”, we explored the background of Nadia Boulanger’s opera. Jumping forward to the modern day, the first staging of the full opera was -
On This Day
30 January: Lynn Harrell Was Born January 30th, 2024Cellist Lynn Harrell, winner of the inaugural Avery Fisher Prize and two Grammy Awards had the ability to generate a penetrating richness of sound, and to communicate with tremendous personal warmth. A formidable technician, Harrell was appointed principal cellist of -
A Surprising Start
Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song January 30th, 2024The orchestra is mighty, chords resonating in a large space, the timpani emphasizing the vastness of the concept. It’s a bit Wagnerian – some ideas seem like they might do well in Die Walküre or perhaps there’s a foreshadowing of -
Happy 150th Birthday Josef Suk January 29th, 2024 “I do not bow to anyone, except to my own conscience and our own noble Lady Music” January is a busy time for lovers of classical music as we celebrate the birthdays of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert on -
Alone Yet Together: The Shared Experience of Live Performance January 28th, 2024 I’ve been going to live classical music concerts since I was a little girl – and not just professional concerts, but also amateur performances when my dad (a clarinettist) played in a local amateur orchestra. As keen music-lovers, my parents -
Mozart and His Divas
Catarina Cavalieri, Adriana Ferrarese del Bene and Luisa Laschi Mombelli January 28th, 2024Did you know that in the Latin language “Diva” is the word for goddess? We constantly hear it in connection with show business, where it is used to describe a highly temperamental and demanding person. In the world of opera, -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Zaide Project January 27th, 2024 Something very exciting took place on 27 January 1866, the 110th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth. The city of Frankfurt witnessed the performance of an unknown Singspiel, which Mozart had abandoned to work on Idomeneo. The unknown work carried