As a mythological character, Hercules is one who has always captured our attention. Famed for his strength and for his adventures around the known world, he’s caught the attention of writers and musicians for centuries. The stories and feats of
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On This Day
25 June: Schumann’s Genoveva Was Premiered June 25th, 2023Premiered at the Stadtteater in Leipzig on 25 June 1850, Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) four-act opera Genoveva elicited a strong response from Richard Wagner. “Schumann is a strange man,” he writes, “who has no sense of melody, and his opera Genoveva -
The Lyrical Piano
Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words) June 25th, 2023Felix Mendelssohn is credited with creating a new genre of music for the piano: the short lyrical pieces known as the Lieder ohne Worte, the Songs Without Words. It was common in the Romantic period to have short lyrical piano -
Christophe Rousset
Music of a Lost World June 24th, 2023The harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset is widely considered a leader in the contemporary revival of French Baroque music. A trained musicologist and founder of the French music ensemble “Les Talens Lyriques,” Rousset has been awarded the French honours of -
Making Fun of the Master
Richard Wagner in Caricature June 24th, 2023Richard Wagner (1813–1883) was a revolutionary in German music and in opera. For opera-goers, the advent of Wagner onto their stages was cause for comment, particularly in the caricature sections. In images, the cartoonists could take aim at all they -
The Enchanting Power of Intimacy: Music in Small Venues June 23rd, 2023 I will never forget a concert I attended in the mid-1980s in a tiny Medieval church in Zadar, a small seaside town in former Yugoslavia. Amidst the ancient stone pillars and arches, a string quartet played music by Beethoven and -
Five Composers Who Died Tragically Young June 23rd, 2023 If you ask music lovers to name a composer who died too young, many will think of Mozart, who died just a month before his 36th birthday, in the midst of composing his Requiem. Of course, the loss of Mozart -
The Loud Harpsichord
Frank Martin’s Harpsichord Concerto June 22nd, 2023Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890–1974) wrote across all genres but is known for his works for an unusual instrument. Where his 1944 work, Petite symphonie concertante, uses the instrument in conjunction with harp and piano, his 1951–1952 work, Concerto for -
The Disappearing Light of Fireflies June 21st, 2023 We think of them as a summer phenomenon, a mysterious blinking in the bushes, or a trail of light seen out of the corner of your inattentive eye: fireflies! American composer Stephen Barber was in a garden in upstate New