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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Lorena Paz Nieto June 1st, 2023 ‘So Much to Discover’ UK-based Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto is equally at home in the worlds of opera and song. As well as already landing leading roles in operas by Donizetti, Mozart, Handel, and Britten, Lorena is a previous -
On This Day
1 June: Mikhail Glinka Was Born June 1st, 2023We are very fortunate, indeed, that Mikhail Glinka, born on 1 June 1804, left us a detailed account of his life and works in his Memoirs. Began in June 1854, Glinka was not recording his life story, because he strongly -
From Dawn to Dusk in a Child’s Life in Music and Pictures May 31st, 2023 Life for Tchaikovsky in the late 1870s was fraught: his short-lived marriage was disintegrating, his suicide attempt was unsuccessful, and his doctor looked at his nearly mad patient and ordered him off to the countryside for a complete rest. Financial -
On This Day
30 May: Smetana’s The Bartered Bride Was Premiered May 30th, 2023Political stirrings of national identity and pride ignited a great awakening across Europe in 1848. Urging an end to Habsburg absolutist rule, the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) openly participated in this revolution. Barely escaping arrest, and unable to establish -
Musicians and Artists:
John Zorn and Antonin Artaud May 30th, 2023John Zorn’s Musical Work La Machine de l’être Inspired by Antonin Artaud French actor and writer Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) tried to move early 20th-century theatre away from its reliance on text and towards more primal expressions of sound, movement, and -
Beethoven (Concert) Overtures May 29th, 2023 Over a period of about 22 years, Ludwig van Beethoven composed a total of eleven overtures for a variety of occasions and under different circumstances. Overtures had traditionally served as openings for stage or larger vocal works for centuries. Although -
On This Day
29 May: Isaac Albéniz Was Born May 29th, 2023Isaac Albéniz was born on 29 May 1860 in Camprodón, a small town in the province of Girona, Spain. The town lays picturesquely nestled in the Pyrenees, at the confluence of the rivers Ter and Ritort. Located just a couple -
In Touch with Composer/Performer Laura Moody May 28th, 2023 ‘I Follow What Feels Exciting’ The work of boundary-pushing cellist, composer, songwriter, vocalist and performer Laura Moody is hard to define, such is the variety and diversity of her musical life. As a cellist she has performed with Björk, the