Tomaso Albinoni: The Quiet Master of Italian Baroque Music
In the annals of classical music, it’s an odd fate to be best known for a work which one didn’t actually write. But such is the case…
In the annals of classical music, it’s an odd fate to be best known for a work which one didn’t actually write. But such is the case…
Our experience of classical music has become rather abstract, detached, and academic. When the great composers were active, music was closely interwoven with everyday life. Music was…
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) is celebrated for expanding the orchestra, revolutionizing musical form, and giving a new exalted role to program music—that is, instrumental music that tells a…
Writers for the movies, I have found, don’t seem to know how to deal with the arts as a dramatic subject. Perhaps due to a lack genuine…
What would the Christmas season be without Sleigh Ride, the beloved orchestral chestnut by Leroy Anderson? It’s one of those festive selections endlessly piped into our ears on…
Man is a historical and a cultural being. He is not merely a performer of functions, nor does he exist by chance in a fleeting and detached…
One of the most interesting phenomena in modern “classical” music (or, if you will, “serious” or “art” music) from the end of the 20th century to today has…
Some of the most profound changes ever to befall Western art music happened in the middle of the 18th century, around the time of the death of Johann…
“Music seems to exist in and of itself, like a temple built around your soul.” The story of music in the twentieth century would have been very…
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) is a unique case in the history of music: There are few other instances of a composer being considered a significant creator despite composing…
The Metropolitan Opera’s series of High Definition (HD) broadcasts, transmitting opera performances live into movie theaters around the world, has been a bright spot on the cultural…
When thinking or writing about Western classical music, we are so often concerned with touting its brilliance and greatness that we seldom place it in context with…
In an essay titled “The Wild and Terrible Mozart,” Stephen Klugewicz reflected on the dark, demonic and awe-inspiring sides of Mozart’s music, often ignored in popular depictions…
“To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervor, to give wings of eternity to that which is…
Music and nature have formed a close symbiosis from the beginning. Music is itself rooted in the facts of nature, in mathematical ratios and acoustical overtones. And…