Interlude is a classical music e-magazine based in Hong Kong, with contributors from diverse backgrounds offering historical, musical and cultural perspectives.
Music Education
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbria, Alabama, in the summer of 1880. Nineteen months later, she fell ill (likely with scarlet fever or meningitis) and became deaf and blind. As Helen grew up, she communicated in a rudimentary way with her family, but it became increasingly clear that she’d
Know Your Composer
According to popular legend, Orlande de Lassus, born in 1530 or 1532 in the Franco-Flemish province of Hainaut, was abducted three times because of the beauty of his voice! Probably pure fabrication, it nevertheless provides a fictional narrative that explains how the 12-year-old boy came to be in the services
Music Education
Music was always part of Henri Matisse’s (1869-1954) life. He played the violin on a daily basis, reflecting the rigorous structure and precise technique which corresponded to his artistic methods. It also provided him with an escape and source of inspiration. Some of the early paintings of his room
Music Education
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Contemporary young composers of classical music are frequently taken to task for placing marketability and profit orientation above artistic integrity and compositional skill. In reality, however, placing the emphasis on the profitability of a given composition is not really a 21st century phenomenon
Know Your Composer
An American Original Growing patriotic and nationalistic fervor had virtually inundated all aspects of European society by the middle of the nineteenth century. These political stirrings of national identify and pride not only found their way into all forms of artistic expression, they also found their way across the Atlantic.
Know Your Composer
Clara Schumann- Toccatina Op.6 Walzer- Clara Schumann for Soprano and Piano Clara Schumann (née Clara Josephine Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. She exerted her influence over a 61-year concert career,
Music Education
Chopin’s ideas have been used in pop music for decades! When classical music aficionados are surveyed on the most popular romantic composer, the name Frédéric Chopin invariably rises to the top. This is hardly surprising as Chopin’s music, ranging from wistful Waltzes and sensual Nocturnes to fiery Etudes
Know Your Composer
What happens when new neural connections within your brain break down the boundaries that normally exist between the senses? For one, hearing a particular musical note might cause you to see a particular color, or you may actually taste spoken words. In medical terms this neurological phenomenon is called synesthesia,
Know Your Composer
“Music begins where the possibilities of language end” For a number of high-profile music historians, Jean Sibelius (1864-1957)—instead of Gustav Mahler—is considered the last master in the Beethoven symphonic tradition. In his final symphony, so it is argued, Sibelius relentlessly engaged in a process of transitional development, with
Music Education
It happened again! During a performance of the Staatskapelle Dresden at the 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival, an audience member showed his appreciation by eagerly clapping his way through the final pianissimo chords of Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen. Other audience members loudly objected, the conductor was visibly annoyed, and HK’
Music Education
It’s probably one of the most instantly recognised ring tones on your mobile, and piano students are expressly forbidden to play it in piano showrooms! By now you must have guessed that I am talking about Beethoven’s Bagatelle Für Elise. Despite it’s almost universal musical appeal—or
Know Your Composer
1+1=1 Estonian-born composer Arvo Pärt (1935-) has managed to strike a sound of devotional archaism into a world of chaotic modernity. Highly experimental during his early musical career, Pärt’s study of early music inspired a new, and completely unique musical language and vocabulary. Influenced by Orthodox Russian
