The music of Ludwig van Beethoven has captivated generations of musicians and listeners. However, some classical music lovers are so enamored by Beethoven that they fail to appreciate Beethoven’s gifted colleagues. If we look at music history, we can find

Classical music has been used for political purposes countless times, both in oppressive regimes (like in Stalin’s Soviet Union and Nazi Germany) and in battles for self-determination and freedom (like in the Finnish independence movement). European revolutions have had classical

The lowest member of the string family is the double bass – its genetics place it closer to the viol than the violin in that it has sloping shoulders (see cello for a viola da gamba image), its body is

The history of classical music spans centuries. Over that time, society has had very different ideas about sexual identities (when they verbalized them at all). It goes without saying that it’s unfair to look back in time and breezily apply

Johannes Brahms was born in 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. He ended his life one of the undisputed giants of nineteenth century music. Here are a few facts about his life and music: Brahms spent his career caught up in an

The bigger brother of the violin and viola, the violoncello actually has two different names hidden in its name: it starts with viol (like violin and viola) and then has the Italian ending -one, meaning big, and ends with the

Ignaz Friedman is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Performing around the globe, Friedman lived in Berlin, Copenhagen, Italy, and from 1940 onwards, in Sydney, Australia. Friedman performed well over 3,000 concerts during his career, and

For generations, mothers have been a source of inspiration for classical composers. Today we’re looking at twenty pieces of classical music that pay tribute to motherhood, from song cycles written from a mother’s point of view to references to the