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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On This Day
26 September: Alfred Cortot Was Born September 26th, 2023There is always one survey or another around that asks noted pianists to name their favourite pianists of all time. In one such survey, Stephen Hough and Angela Hewitt neglected to mention Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein and instead chose -
Classical Music for Writing: How These Ten Pieces Can Help Writers Unlock Creativity September 25th, 2023 Writing is hard. It’s a lonely pursuit requiring not only focus and discipline, but inspiration, too. While there are many tools and techniques that writers can use to boost their creativity, one often overlooked resource is classical music. Today we’re -
On This Day
25 September: Johann Strauss (Father) Died September 25th, 2023Johann Strauss (Father) was the darling of the Viennese dance craze and simply known as “The Tyrant of Waltz.” As the leader of a hugely popular dance orchestra, he sent the pleasure-seeking and cheery population of imperial Vienna into throbbing -
Adventures With Our Instruments September 24th, 2023 What the audience doesn’t know behind the scenes typically won’t hurt their enjoyment of a performance. But these recent mishaps chill a performer’s bones even if in retrospect we like recounting these stories! A dear friend of mine, award-winning actress, -
Silence Is Golden – At Least at Classical Music Concerts! September 23rd, 2023 The 2023 edition of the Proms, “the world’s greatest classical music festival”, has just ended. As usual, this year’s two-month season of concerts was punctuated by conversations about audience noise and the now rather tedious rants about applause between movements. -
Frances Gershwin: George Gershwin’s Famous Singing Sister September 23rd, 2023 Say the phrase “the Gershwin siblings” and any music lover immediately thinks of George and Ira Gershwin, two brothers famous for co-writing some of the most famous songs in the Great American Songbook. But George and Ira also had a -
The Kingdom of Music: A Féerie September 22nd, 2023 A féerie was a French theatrical genre and, as a ‘fairy play’ combined music, dance, mime, and acrobatics, in a fantasy plot set off by spectacular scenery and stage effects. Some critics noted that the visuals, with the transformational scene -
How the Weber Sisters Became Mozart’s Wife, Family, and Muses September 21st, 2023 Mozart fell in love with one. Another one caused a scandal by moving in with him before they were married. Yet another premiered the role of The Queen of the Night in his opera The Magic Flute. And one helped