When he went to the US in 1891 to become the head of the American Conservatory of Music in New York, Antonín Dvořák’s patron, Mrs. Jeannet Thurber, intended him to be the founder of not only the first conservatory in

The late 19th century saw a glorification of Spanish culture under the general label of the Hispanidad. All sectors of Spanish culture were up for reappraisal and promotion. One of those was the celebration in 1897 of the 150th anniversary

One of the most famous of the waltzes written by Johann Strauss II was his An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314. By the Beautiful Blue Danube, or The Blue Danube Waltz as it’s more commonly known. It had its

The composer Francis Poulenc loved the music of Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894), as did Debussy, saying once after a performance of Chabrier’s Ode à la musique ‘…I love this music so much that I want to hear it again.’ Chabrier was

In December 1822, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was awarded a Diploma of Honour from the Styrian Music Society in Graz. As a way of saying thank you, he sent two movements of a symphony he was working on, noting that it

César Franck (1822–1890) was a true international composer: he was born in Belgium, was a French citizen by choice, and may have even had a bit of German in his remote past. His musical skills were recognized early and exploited

The legend of the Swiss hero William Tell was the basis for Giaochino Rossini’s 1829 opera, Guillaume Tell, as through the hands of a play by Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, and a libretto by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy and L.

The powerful start to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has meant various things over the centuries. During his time, according to his assistant, the music was taken to signal Fate knocking at the door. During the second world war, it was a