Thursday, January 17, 2019, 11:30am
In the 19th century many a composer made a pilgrimage to Rome and was awestruck by the greatness of its ruins. When 22-year-old Felix Mendelssohn made the trip, he saw ruins but little greatness. To his family in Berlin he reported on January 17th, 1831: “The night before last a theater opened with...
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 11:30am
In his native land Fernando Sor learned how to make music and developed a career as a performer and composer. He was a gifted guitarist and also wrote an opera, a motet, and songs. But Spain wasn't in the mainstream of music making and so in 1813, at the age of 35, Sor went to Paris to become an...
Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 11:30am
Although the President was a noted outdoorsman, he also he enjoyed the subtleties of chamber music. And sometimes the wild and the refined met cheek to jowl in the White House of Theodore Roosevelt. When he came into office in 1901, Roosevelt brought a new sophistication to music making in the...
Monday, January 14, 2019, 11:30am
Music making can be hard enough for those whose instruments are mainstays of the orchestra. For harmonica-player Larry Adler the early years were tough--and a little scary. In 1928 or so, at age 14, Adler left his home in Baltimore to audition in a New York harmonica band. Adler played the Poet and...
Friday, January 11, 2019, 11:30am
In 1804 Carl Maria von Weber was a 17-year-old composer and singer with little conducting experience. He was invited to lead the theater orchestra in Breslau, and accepted the position in part because he hoped that its modest salary would enable him to support his father, an unsuccessful engraver...
Friday, January 11, 2019, 11:30am
In 1804 Carl Maria von Weber was a 17-year-old composer and singer with little conducting experience. He was invited to lead the theater orchestra in Breslau, and accepted the position in part because he hoped that its modest salary would enable him to support his father, an unsuccessful engraver...
Thursday, January 10, 2019, 11:30am
In the spring of 1804 Carl Maria von Weber was not yet 18 years old. But he already had some distinguished compositions to his credit, and though he had little conducting experience, he was invited to lead the theater orchestra in Breslau. The salary was small and the position modest, but it would...
Wednesday, January 9, 2019, 11:30am
Anna Riviere was one of the most admired of 19th-century English sopranos. She was also one of the most adventuresome. She was born in London on January 9th, 1810. She entered the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 14. Seven years later, just after her professional debut, Anna married Sir Henry...
Tuesday, January 8, 2019, 11:30am
One night in 1994 72-year-old pianist Abbey Simon and his wife were in The Hague, crossing a street in a rainstorm when an inattentive driver smashed into them. Simon’s wife was badly injured. His own injuries were not life threatening, but he had four broken fingers. The pianist’s doctor was blunt...
Monday, January 7, 2019, 11:30am
Beethoven is said to have described composing as ten percent talent and ninety percent work. On January 7th, 1809 he wrote from Vienna to his publisher in Leipzig suggesting that the hardest work comes after composing.
Friday, January 4, 2019, 11:30am
In January 1864 New Orleans-born pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk was on a train, making a concert tour of the northern states. Stalled near Harvard, Illinois, and worn by war and weather, he found comfort where he could, as he relates in his diary: "Even though I had spent the night with my clothes...
Thursday, January 3, 2019, 11:30am
In 1853 the famed contralto Marietta Alboni was about to give a farewell concert and the manager of New York's Broadway Theater was desperate to have her perform on his stage. He approached conductor Luigi Arditi and asked him to convince the star to sing the part of Norma at his theater. As a...
Wednesday, January 2, 2019, 11:30am
On January second, 1877, Peter Tchaikovsky chided his brother Modeste for not being a better correspondent. “Most Honorable Sir Modeste Ilyich: “I don't know if you still remember that I exist. I happen to be your own brother. I hold the position of professor at the Moscow Conservatory and have...
Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 11:30am
Mysticism came easily to Modeste Mussorgsky. A little too easily according to a letter Mussorgsky wrote to his fellow composer Mili Balakirev on September 26 th , 1860: “I think you will be interested in how I spent my time in the Moscow countryside. My illness dragged on almost until August so...
Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 11:30am
Nowadays world class guest soloists usually rehearse a familiar concerto at least once with an orchestra. But before the middle of the 20th century, great soloists frequently didn't rehearse familiar works at all -- and occasionally experienced some uncomfortable surprises. In his book " Gentleman...
Monday, September 24, 2018, 11:30am
At orchestra concerts today we take for granted the conductor directing the music with a baton. According to Louis Spohr things were done very differently in 1820 when he went to London to conduct a Philharmonic concert: "In those days it was customary there that when symphonies and overtures were...
Friday, September 21, 2018, 11:30am
Franz Schubert wrote many songs celebrating the beauty of nature, but his letters reveal that his response to nature went far beyond mere sightseeing. In September 1825, Schubert was traveling through the Tyrolese Alps with his friend, the singer Michael Vogel. It was a time when much of Europe was...
Thursday, September 20, 2018, 11:30am
John Dowland probably thought that he had it made. He was at the height of his reputation as one of England's greatest lutenists and he had just been appointed as lutenist to the Court of Christian the Fourth of Denmark. But coming from service to the reserved Queen Elizabeth, Dowland was shocked...
Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 11:30am
In the fall of 1913, when Robert Nichols was in his first term at Oxford, a friend said, "there's a chap in the house you ought to know. An extraordinary chap -- plays the pianola, the piano and all that. In fact, I think he's a what-d'you call it -- a musician." Nichols was eager to meet someone...
Tuesday, September 18, 2018, 11:30am
Twenty-seven-year-old Robert Schumann was a gifted composer. But the father of his 18-year-old fiancée, Clara Wieck, was unimpressed. Clara’s father steadfastly refused permission for his daughter to marry. Schumann tried everything he could think of to make the marriage take place -- including a...
