When Ludwig van Beethoven went to Vienna in 1792, he was coming expecting to become Mozart’s successor. Mozart had died in early December 1791, and Beethoven came with the praise of the German composer and organist Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-98)

Korean-American pianist Julian Jaeyoung Kim made a bold statement with his debut CD, ‘Brahms Resonances’, featuring Brahms’ Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5, and the Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35 (Read our review here). Now, in his

The Italian composer Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816) was the most popular opera composer at the end of the 18th century. Based in Naples, his operas caught the attention of all of Italy and, in addition to Naples, he wrote operas for

Arguably, the first composer to write true piano music was Ludwig van Beethoven. To be sure, he had tremendous technical ability, and critics wrote, “He was attacking pianos with such force that during the performance, keys, hammers and strings would

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 Available until 07/05/2025 Ludwig van Beethoven was a revolutionary man who lived and worked in tumultuous times as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars greatly destabilised the European

Have you ever taken a Buzzfeed personality quiz? You know the kind I’m talking about. Which trending TV character are you? What cookie do you embody? What season are you, based on your bedroom design preferences? Obviously, those personality quizzes

Beethoven’s orchestra in 1804, when he conducted the first performance of his Symphony No. 3, and Mahler’s orchestra a century later were very different. Developments in string technology, in brass and woodwind instrument construction, and in the very sound and

Beethoven was famous for his curmudgeonly, antisocial personality. Of course, nowadays, we understand that his prickliness was, at least in part, due to his tinnitus and deafness, as well as the mental health struggles caused by his ever-deteriorating physical health.