Composer George Frederic Handel was born in 1685 in Halle, Germany. Over the course of his career, he became one of the most famous and influential composers of the Baroque Era. Here are a few points about Handel’s life and

Which Composers Lived in Vienna? If there’s a world capital of classical music, Vienna is it. From the mid-eighteenth century up until the present day, Vienna has flourished as a musical center. The city attracted a veritable constellation of composers

Time, time-keeping, ticking watches, ticking clocks: all of these concepts have proven inspirational to composers of classical music. Today we’re taking a look at centuries of classical music about time. There’s no time to waste, so keep reading! John Dowland:

One of the few instruments of the orchestra that’s named for a person, the saxophone, was named after its inventor, Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax (1814–1894). His father, Charles-Joseph Sax (1790–1865) was also an instrument maker and had established a

‘Water games’ is one translation of Jeux d’eau by Maurice Ravel, others being Fountains and Playing Water. Each is equally apt: in this piece Ravel brilliantly evokes “the splashing of water and by the musical sounds of fountains, cascades and

Johann Strauss II was born into a famous and famously dysfunctional musical family just outside of Vienna in October 1825. As a boy, Johann pursued music against his father’s wishes. His father had begun a string quartet that grew into

Frédéric Chopin is one of the most popular composers in classical music history. We all know that his romantic piano works have captured the imaginations of listeners around the world. But have you ever wondered which of his pieces are

The concept of percussion is rather easy: find something, hit it. Eventually, the development of hitting things to make definite sounds led to the development of the timpani – a tunable drum used to supplement the bass section of an