Thursday, May 9, 2019, 11:30am
Paris Opera director Andre Messager conducted the debut of Claude Debussy's opera Pelleas and Melisande . Then he had to leave the country to fulfill other commitments. That left the direction of the opera to the second conductor, Henri-Paul Busser. A despondent Debussy wrote to Messager on May 9,...
Wednesday, May 8, 2019, 11:35am
May 8th, 1945 -- V.E. Day. Germany surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe. Composer Richard Strauss was among the many who were glad that the war was over regardless of who had won. He and his family had been suffering under the Nazi regime while living near the village of...
Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 11:30am
The following letter to Giuseppe Verdi in 1872 shows that to be a composer is to expose oneself to criticism from anyone and everyone: Much Honored Signor Verdi, “On the second of this month I went to Padua, lured by the sensation caused by your opera Aida. I was so intrigued that I was in my seat—...
Monday, May 6, 2019, 11:30am
In 1831 a young pianist and composer named Frederick Chopin left his native land, Poland, in order to establish himself in European musical circles. He was a popular success as a concert performer, but at times was lonely in a crowd. In Vienna in the spring of 1831 Chopin wrote in his journal: “...
Friday, May 3, 2019, 11:30am
Sooner or later every composer has to deal with a deadline. Gioacchino Rossini shared some of his trade secrets in a letter that shows his sense of humor: “Wait until the evening before the performance. Nothing stirs up a person’s enthusiasm so much as pure necessity, a copyist waiting for your...
Thursday, May 2, 2019, 11:30am
As World War II raged in Europe, English composer Arthur Bliss was director of music at the BBC. His family was in America and he was looking for a way to go to America so that he could arrange to bring them back to England. An offer of assistance came from an unexpected source via a phone call...
Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 11:35am
The 22-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had arrived in Paris to build an international reputation. He wrote to his father, Leopold, in Salzburg on May 1st, 1778: "Responding to an invitation of eight days prior, I drove to the house of the Duchesse de Chabot. I waited half an hour in a large room without any fire and as cold as ice. At last the Duchess came in. She was very polite, and implored me to excuse her piano since none of her instruments were in good order, but she asked me at least to give it a try."
Tuesday, April 30, 2019, 11:30am
Edvard Grieg was 25 years old when he wrote his masterpiece, the Piano Concerto in A minor. One of the first to see it was Franz Liszt, who not only played it and critiqued it, but afterward offered Grieg advice to last a lifetime. The occasion came during a gathering of friends one evening in 1865...
Monday, April 29, 2019, 11:30am
The same piece of music can draw very different reactions from city to city as Carl Maria von Weber reported from Dresden to a friend in Berlin in April 1824: “I’ve been going through a rough patch, and maybe it’s just as well that my enormous workload didn’t give me much time to think. But still I...
Sunday, April 28, 2019, 11:30am
Today he is best known for his technical studies such as The School of Velocity- -methodical, mechanical approaches to piano mastery. Carl Czerny was actually an extraordinarily prolific composer whose curiously mechanical way of working made his vast output possible. The English writer John Elia...
Friday, April 26, 2019, 11:30am
Peter Tchaikovsky wrote some of his best music during long trips to Italy. But even there, music and friends could put him out of sorts. To his brother Modeste he wrote from Rome in April 1890. “For two days now I've been in a bad mood to the point of despair. I've lost both my appetite and my...
Thursday, April 25, 2019, 11:30am
Felix Mendelssohn's trip to England inspired some of his finest music. But sometimes the 20-year-old composer was so overwhelmed by his surroundings that Mendelssohn the musician took a backseat to Mendelssohn the tourist. He wrote to his family on April 25th, 1829: “I have taken leave of my senses...
Friday, April 19, 2019, 11:30am
Every now and then, a conductor has to give his players the benefit of the doubt. In fact, André Previn once remarked, "The more you trust your players -- whether you're doing a Haydn symphony or something with the ink still wet -- the better off you'll be." As a beginning conductor, Previn was...
Thursday, April 18, 2019, 11:30am
It must have been the radio interviewer’s nightmare. In 1955 the world-renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski arrived for a live interview before he was to conduct a concert with the Miami University Symphony Orchestra. The interviewer began by stating that Stokowski was born in 1882. Stokowski...
Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 11:30am
Sometimes a musician to make a tremendous effort just to go through with a performance. In the case of pianist Oscar Levant, a broken leg helped. In 1955 Levant had a thirty-year performing career to his credit, but in recent seasons he had become better known for his cancellations than for his...
Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 11:30am
Sergei Prokofiev's previous trip to America had not gone very well. The critics had panned his piano pieces and playing as "Bolshevism in art" and "the epitome of Godless Russia." Worse, he had become known as a performer with a mechanical style. Now it was 1920 and Prokofiev came to America with a...
Monday, April 15, 2019, 11:30am
It had worked for Sergei Rachmaninoff. Sergei Prokofiev thought it might work for him too.
Friday, April 12, 2019, 11:30am
Charles Burney, courting danger on Mount Vesuvius in 1770.
Thursday, April 11, 2019, 11:30am
For the first time ever, will an American win the first prize in the highly prestigious Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition ?
Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 11:30am
Performer and accompanist may practice hard to develop a common approach to a piece of music. But when the night of the performance arrives, the best intentions may go out the window if nervousness throws the performer into old habits. In his memoir Am I Too Loud ? the great accompanist Gerald...
