Rediscover Raff for his 200th Birthday
Imagine this. Someone asks you to name a famous German composer. You might answer with any number of names including Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, or Handel. Similarly, if someone…
Imagine this. Someone asks you to name a famous German composer. You might answer with any number of names including Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, or Handel. Similarly, if someone…
The Parker Symphony is set to play a piece titled La chasse du jeune Henri ("Young Henri's hunt") in October by a composer named Étienne Méhul, but who exactly is…
It's Back to School season and that means kids are heading back to the classroom - whether on campus or at home. These are truly unprecedented times, but that doesn't…
Mozart wrote 41 symphonies (according to original numbering) and some are arguably better than others. Number 41, nicknamed the "Jupiter Symphony", is rated by many critics as among the greatest…
It is a well-known fact that Shakespeare's influence spread well beyond his plays and far beyond idyllic Stratford-upon-Avon. He gave us new words like "fashionable" and "softhearted". He inspired figures…
Chances are you've never heard the name Kalinnikov. Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov...of course. But Kalinnikov's name should be among these other Russian giants. It is estimated that had he lived…
If you're like me, when you heard the name Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, you thought, "Isn't that the guy who wrote Rime of the Ancient Mariner? The English poet?" Nope, that's Samuel…
If you've ever listened to baroque music (think Vivaldi, Corelli, Handel, etc.), you've probably seen the term Concerto Grosso and wondered, "What is that?" Well, as you can probably guess,…
Vltava, better known by its German name, Die Moldau (or The Moldau), is a symphonic poem that is patriotic in every sense of the word. It is one of…
Impressionism is a term most familiar to fans of late 19th century painters such as Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Degas among other notable names. In fact, the term derives…