“Music is natural law as related to the sense of hearing” Throughout his short life—having been accidentally shot by an American soldier in 1945—the music of Anton Webern (1883-1945) was almost totally unknown. With the end of WWII, however, the

Opera for the People I’ve got a bit of a tongue twister for you today. Try to say the name of the composer Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo, Cavaliere Suppé-Demelli rapidly five times. Fortunately, the composer under consideration shortened his professional name

Muse, Femme Fatale, Composer Her admirers described Alma Schindler as pathologically cruel, anti-Semitic, exceedingly vain, prone to excessive drinking, and utterly obsessed by a sense of entitlement that the world owed her something in return for her brilliance and beauty.

Corrected by MozartCan you imagine one of the most astonishingly gifted musical prodigies of all times being forced to study music in secret? It happened to Ernst Toch, whose father — a Jewish processed-leather dealer in Vienna — did everything

As a clarinettist myself, it was fairly nerve-wracking phoning up the principal clarinet of the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the best orchestras in the world. “Hello? Hello? Is that Mr. Ottensamer? I’m very sorry, it’s a bit crackly at my

Cello Concerto in D major, Badley D3 Flute Concerto in G major, Badley G2 Concerto for Oboe and Harpsichord in F major, Badley F1 Leopold Hofmann (1738 – 1793) was an Austrian church musician and composer of instrumental music. His

Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) was an Austrian composer and conductor whose career was essentially in opera. He had composed a total of eight operas, in addition to songs, chamber music and four symphonies. The last of these, the Lyric Symphony

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (November 14, 1778 – October 17, 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. Hummel was born in Pressburg, Hungary (now Bratislava, Slovakia), the