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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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 -
György Ligeti May 28th, 2023 “I am in a prison: One wall is the avant-garde, the other is the past, and I want to escape” 100 years ago, on 28 May 1923, the Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923-2006) was born in the little Transylvanian town -
Another Kind of Picture
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition for Piano and Percussion May 28th, 2023Modest Mussorgsky’s walk about a picture show, Pictures at an Exhibition, started life as a piano suite in 10 parts with a recurring Promenade part as the viewer moved from picture to picture. Written in 1874, it is based on -
Les Femmes “Compositeurs”
Chamber Music by French Romantic Women Composers May 27th, 2023Recently, the “Centre de musique romantique française” at the Venetian Palazzetto Bru Zane has released an impressive anthology of 165 compositions by French Romantic women composers. In essence, they have resurrected the memory of nineteenth-century French women composers that had -
On This Day
27 May: Niccolò Paganini Died May 27th, 2023Niccolò Paganini had never been a picture of perfect health. His physical appearance—tall and thin with long arms, legs, fingers, and toes, and exceptional flexibility of his joints—recently gave rise to suggestions that he suffered from “Marfan Syndrome.” Although no -
What Happened to Bach’s Twenty Children? May 27th, 2023 Johann Sebastian Bach is, of course, one of the most beloved composers of all time. He’s also famous for having fathered twenty children. A few became famous composers in their own right…but many of them died tragically young, too. Today