Know Your Composer
I usually listen to BBC Radio 3 while I work. Its primary focus is classical music and opera. So the sung music reflects the languages from that world: Italian, German, French, Latin, English, less frequently Spanish or even Russian; but Portuguese is a rare occurrence. So when I heard Portuguese
Know Your Composer
Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most influential composers in history, faced a unique and challenging obstacle that fundamentally altered both his music and his life: deafness. His journey with hearing loss is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and how limitations can become a catalyst for
Know Your Composer
Canadian singer Celine Dion was in the news on account of her recent diagnosis with the crippling rare neurologic condition stiff-person disorder, causing her to cancel future concert tours. I was listening to one of her signature songs, ‘All by Myself’, which was actually written nearly fifty years ago, in
Know Your Composer
In 2017, a previously unknown work by Dmitri Shostakovich was discovered in Moscow’s Central Archives among the documents of Vadim Borisovsky (the longtime violist of the Beethoven Quartet). It was a brief, unassuming piece entitled, Impromptu for Viola and Piano, Op. 33. The autograph on the title page was
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Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major is music rooted in nature and song. It is the work of a 28-year-old composer who was rapidly rising as one of Europe’s premier conductors, and who was coming out of a stormy love affair with Marion von Weber, the wife
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The trio sonata, which consists typically of two violins (or flutes, recorders, or oboes) and basso continuo, originated in Italy in the late sixteenth century. At first an instrumental adaptation of three-part vocal music, the form was refined and developed by Arcangelo Corelli. It is François Couperin (1668-1733), harpsichordist and
Know Your Composer
Classical music history is adorned with the brilliance of celebrated composers whose works have left an indelible mark on the world. From the soaring symphonies of Beethoven to the intricate operas of Mozart, their names resonate through time. Yet, amidst the grandeur of these giants, there exist unsung heroes—composers
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Don Pasquale is a comic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti which premiered in Paris in 1843 and had its Italian premiere later that year in Milan. It is a ‘romantic comedy’ with 19th-century values. The plot, set in Rome, revolves around Don Pasquale, who wants his nephew Ernesto
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In his later years, the cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, recalled a conversation that he had with Nina Vasilyevna, the wife of Dmitri Shostakovich. Rostropovich wondered what he could do to encourage Shostakovich to write a concerto for the cello. “Slava,” she answered, “if you want Dmitri Dmitriyevich to write something for
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In 1880, immediately following the completion of his First Piano Quartet, Gabriel Fauré began work on a sonata for cello and piano. Often, when composing a new chamber work, Fauré began with the slow movement. Ultimately, the sonata failed to materialize, but the intended slow movement was published as a
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Franz Schubert and his close-knit circle of artist and friends frequently gathered at the large apartment of Ignaz von Sonnleithner to hold their Schubertiades. These meeting had distinct intellectual, erotic and often political undercurrents. In the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Austrian police was highly suspicious
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Before television, internet, movies, and rock and roll, there was the secular cantata. During the late Baroque period in Italy, these dramatic vocal works were popular entertainment in wealthy, aristocratic circles. Made up of a brief sequence of recitatives and arias, the secular cantata amounted to a kind of highly
