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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On This Day
17 May: Erik Satie Was Born May 17th, 2023Eric Alfred Leslie Satie, who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was born at nine in the morning of 17 May 1866 in the coastal town of Honfleur. He was the son of a Scottish mother, née Jane Leslie -
In Praise of the Classical Music Nerd May 16th, 2023 A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, [or] introverted…. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, [or] abstract….to the exclusion of more -
9 Greatest Arias by Gaetano Donizetti May 15th, 2023 175 years ago, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) died in a state of mental derangement due to neurosyphilis. His disease was confirmed by autopsy, and many commentators have “speculated that the composer’s brain disease may have had an influence on his ability -
On This Day
15 May: Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Was Premiered May 15th, 2023In 1917, Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso made an excursion to Naples, with the composer commenting on its “half Spanish character, on the pleasure he found in the aquarium, and in the Neapolitan watercolors.” They also attended a commedia dell’arte -
Music for Every Room
Dr. J. Clarence Chambers’ All American May 14th, 2023Dr. J. Clarence Chambers (1910–2006), in his studies at Amherst College, became the rehearsal pianist for the music department’s operetta performances. He graduated in 1934 from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons and did his internship at Harlem Hospital. -
Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance
“Regal Pageantry” May 14th, 2023Like countless people around the world, I recently settled in to watch at least part of the coronation of Charles III and Queen Camilla. This ceremony has great tradition and theatricality, from the arrival of the golden carriage to the -
On This Day
14 May: Otto Klemperer was Born May 14th, 2023When famed conductor Otto Klemperer was roughly nine years of age, he encountered “the man who was to be the central inspiration of his entire life as a musician.” He remembers “seeing Mahler on the street when I was quite -
5 Composers Who Died in the Holocaust Who You Need to Know May 13th, 2023 The impact of the loss of life under the Nazi regime was incalculable. One of the only ways we can begin to comprehend the scale of the destruction is by looking at the impact that the Holocaust had on individual