Interlude is a classical music e-magazine based in Hong Kong, with contributors from diverse backgrounds offering historical, musical and cultural perspectives.
Know Your Composer
Franz Schubert composed his set of six German Dances in October 1824 for his piano student Countess Caroline Esterházy. Everybody knew that Schubert was deeply in love with his 18-year old student, and a number of compositions were the direct result of his infatuation. The manuscript of the German Dances
Know Your Composer
Nobody composed variations like Austrian composer Franz Schubert! An undisputed master of the genre, his variations on his own melodies became a fascinating combination of formal innovation and musical poetics. Peeling away layer upon layer of significance and meaning, Schubert bathes his melodies in unexpected and radiant colors. In 1824
Know Your Composer
In all, the remarkable collection of Schubert’s Lieder transcriptions by Franz Liszt totalled 58 songs. Liszt first handed twelve of these piano transcriptions to a Viennese publisher in 1838 and his concluding efforts emerged 10 years later in 1848. It is indeed interesting that Liszt spent an entire decade
Know Your Composer
Greatness will invariably recognise greatness! And Franz Liszt’s efforts and commitment on behalf of forgotten masterpieces set a powerful trend in the 19th century. As such it is hardly surprising that Franz Schubert occupied a central place in Liszt’s transcriptions and paraphrases. Schubert published his first major piano
Know Your Composer
In my humble opinion, the richness and subtlety of Franz Schubert’s (1797-1828) melodic and harmonic language is unequaled in the world of classical music. For one reason or another, we are led to believe that Schubert’s music was not popular during his lifetime. Nothing could be further from
Know Your Composer
Police officals in Naples were presented with a rather gruesome scenario on 16 October 1590. The palace apartment near the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore was the scene of a horrific double murder. They found the body of Don Fabrizio Carafa, whom contemporaries described as a “model of beauty,” and one
Know Your Composer
The life of Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) was characterised by turbulence, adventure and amorous escapades. In fact, in 1677 an attempt was made to murder him for reasons unknown, although it was believed to be at the instigation of a Venetian senator with whose fiancée Stradella had eloped. That attempt on
Know Your Composer
Recently, I had a chat with a young colleague who suggested that the writing of biographies of great composers was a boring myth-making exercise practiced in a cultural galaxy far away and two centuries removed. She had a point about the myth making, of course, but I really couldn’t
Music Education
Orpheus was not only a legendary hero of Greek mythology; he was also the first superstar musician. But more than that, he was the Mozart, Shakespeare, Pavarotti, and Lady Gaga all rolled into one. His singing and playing moved even wild beasts and inanimate rocks to tears, and rivers diverted
Know Your Composer
Whether we like it or not, Hector Berlioz is primarily associated with a single composition. Everybody knows his Symphonie Fantastique, but his religious works, the dramatic legends, his songs and even his operas are rarely scheduled for performance, and they have remained an enigma to the concert going public. One
Know Your Composer
It has been said that a performance of Ravel’s Boléro begins every 10 minutes somewhere in the world. The Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, a close friend and financial supporter of Ravel, commissioned the piece. Originally, it was part of a ballet production and first performed on 22 November 1928
Know Your Composer
The common image of the struggling artist started with Mr. Ludwig van B. We all know the story of him overcoming his disability to create some of the most uplifting and inspirational masterpieces in music. But we don’t have to be necessarily rich and famous to struggle with adversity;