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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
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
Know Your Composer
My son’s piano lessons with Prof. Margarida Miranda are an education of sorts for me too. I get a chance to study piano scores more closely and better understand the inner workings of a composition. Lately he’s learning the Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1 by
Know Your Composer
It is not entirely clear when Franz Schubert met Franz von Schober (1796–1882). But from the very beginning, the two men had a special relationship. Gifted, charismatic and undisciplined, Schober was tall, smooth, good-looking and a gifted orator. Basically, everything Schubert was not. Eduard von Bauernfeld once quipped, “Schober