Adolf von Henselt (1814-1889) was one of a number of exceptional pianists who all were born in the second decade of 19th century: Chopin (1810-1849), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Clara Schumann (1819-1896), Sigismond Thalberg (1812-1871), Franz Liszt (1811-1886). A classical child

In 1908, at the end of his 4 years of study in Vienna with Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern (1883-1945) wrote his Passacaglia, Op. 1. The passacaglia was invented in the early 17th century in Spain, but first found its way

When asked in an interview what the title of his violin concerto, Tiefenrausch, meant to him, German composer Christian Jost (b. 1963) said it was both his manifesto and a confession. The word refers to the effect of nitrogen on

American composer Richard Danielpour (b. 1956), while working outside New York in Seattle and in Taos, New Mexico, had time to reconsider if he wanted to return to New York City. It’s big, it’s dirty, there’s 7 million other people

Compared to Bach by J.N. Forkel, Bach’s biographer, the lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss was described as a composer of “excellent and difficult compositions.” Another writer describes Weiss’ works for the lute as ‘the best, the soundest, the most galant and

Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) had an international career in music, starting with his own career as pianist. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory, taught briefly in Helsinki, Moscow, and Boston, and then started his international tours as a pianist.

Although our knowledge of Nordic composers seems now to circle around Nielsen, Grieg, and Sibelius, the latter two who trained in the German and Austrian tradition, there were also other composers, such as the Finnish composer Selim Palmgren (1878-1951), who

The Cretan princess Ariadne appears across a number of the Greek myths. She first appears as the daughter of King Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphaë, mother of the Minotaur. She helped Theseus escape the yearly sacrifice of 7