Although it wouldn’t be completed until 1957, his new symphony honoring the heroes of the Revolution quickly became the composer’s greatest popular success since his 1941 Leningrad Symphony, earning him the Lenin Prize in 1958.
Read MoreWhile we may never know whether Scriabin’s music possessed the power to end existence as we know it, we can experience his less ambitious magic in Le Poème de l’extase.
Read MoreBoth showed a natural attraction to the theater and narrative music. Both showed a fascination with reinventing neglected baroque and classical forms. Both spent a lifetime walking the tightrope between innovation and tradition.
And each managed to achieve the great contradiction of becoming the iconic symbol of their national musical establishment while somehow remaining a rebel and social outcast
Read MoreTransformed by love, the angst-ridden melodies of the opening movements return in the finale to create a joyous celebration of life.
Read MoreIn John Dowland, Britten found a kindred spirit who shared his love for the beauty of the English language and a rare gift for illuminating poetry with music. And in Henry Purcell, he discovered both a shared affinity for the theater and a sense of musical structure and style ideally matched to his own.
Read MoreFrom the beginning of Benjamin Britten’s career, it was apparent that there was a deep connection between the English composer and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Read MoreClassical music is filled with pieces that depict stories and historical events— fairy tales (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), autobiography (Ein Heldenleben), even hallucinations (Symphonie fantastique) and battles (the 1812 Overture). But only one has been composed while under fire from the very artillery it portrayed.
Read MoreAn exploration of music for string quartet spanning 10 centuries.
Read MoreComposed when the composer was only 25, this is a monumental work in five movements (the last two linked) which is infused with Mahlerian themes of destiny and struggle.
Read MoreWhat do you do when your students openly question your curriculum? If you’re Ernest Bloch, you put your money where your mouth is.
Read MoreThis is a lyrical piece in which moments of agitation or anxiety on the part of the soloist or orchestra are always coaxed back into joy by the other musicians.
Read MoreThe Sinfonietta La Jolla was written for the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla, which requested that he write something tuneful and accessible. Martinů, who once commented that “music must be beautiful, or it wouldn’t be worth the effort,” gladly acquiesced to this request.
Read MoreJames Agee’s essay is a dreamy, conversational, almost improvisatory piece of prose reflecting on summers spent with his family at their home in Tennessee.
Read MoreGone are the ponderous sonorities and heavy textures so prominent in Vaughan Williams’ earlier music. In their place, we find a work of majestic power and shimmering beauty.
Read MoreThe score for Pulcinella was something new— not an original composition, but more than just an arrangement.
Read MoreAs difficult as it may be to believe, The Firebird was Igor Stravinsky’s first large-scale work for orchestra.
Read More“I was anxious to write a work that would immediately be recognized as American in character,” Copland later recalled. Music for the Theatre was a five-movement suite exploring several different moods while trying very consciously to create a new national sound.
Read MoreWe’re all familiar with the ending of Shakespeare’s most famous play: Romeo, discovering the seemingly lifeless body of his bride, drinks a lethal poison. Juliet, awakening from her faked death, finds him and, heartbroken, stabs herself with his dagger. This wasn’t how Sergei Prokofiev thought it should end.
Read MoreThe tragedies and triumphs of war have inspired composers to create some of their greatest work. In World War II, governments realized that artists could be more useful to the war effort in their trained discipline than as conscripted soldiers, and composers were encouraged to produce work supporting national morale and the education of the public.
Read MoreThe Concerto for Organ, Timpani, and Strings showcases a side of Poulenc’s personality that had rarely surfaced in prior works. The wit and humor are still present, to be sure, but there is a sincerity that sets it apart.
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