During its days of largest expansion and influence in the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire controlled much of Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Remaining a constant military threat to Central Europe over several centuries, Turkish troops famously

One of the essential things about music is how it’s so hard to pin down, so hard to fix in time, and so hard to be definitive about. In looking at cadenzas, those virtuosic flourishes that appear in concertos, we

During his initial years in Vienna, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart made the acquaintance of Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer was a trained physician who hypothesized that it was essential to maintain equilibrium between the natural magnetic fluid that filled all living things,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the undisputed pop star of the 18th century! Numerous composers and musicians arranged his music, and profited handsomely from this indirect association with a superstar. But Mozart himself was also a rather active arranger of works

Sigismund von Schrattenbach was Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1753 to 1771. He appointed Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as members of the episcopal court orchestra, but only after Wolfgang had passed a rigorous test! Schrattenbach had always been suspicious that

String Quartet No. 16 in E Flat Major, K.428/421b: IV. Allegro vivace From Mozart – String Quartets dedicated to Haydn (2014) Released by Harmonia Mundi Mozart: String Quartet No. 16 in E Flat Major, K.428/421b: IV. Allegro vivaceThe sincerest form

Mozart’s relationship to church music has been compared to a child’s attitude towards eating sprouts and spinach. That attitude was clearly conditioned by his troubled interaction with Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, who was appointed Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1771. This

Violin Sonata No. 27 in G Major, K. 379 Adagio From Mozart: Violin Sonatas Nos. 27, 32 and 35 (Tetzlaff, Vogt) (2012) Released by Ondine / Naxos Mozart: Violin Sonata No. 27 in G Major, K. 379 – AdagioThe bar-by-bar