Aaron Copland and Musical Americana
Aaron Copland (1900–1990) enjoys a reputation as America’s most esteemed composer of classical music. Much of his music is also said to embody a sense of Americana,…
Roger and Me
Walking into the Reform Club in London’s ritzy Pall Mall, the aspirations of a 26-year-old American student had come true. Recently graduated from Yale but deciding against…
The Art of Beethoven: Between Romantic and Classical
There are many things that have been said about Beethoven and his music by expert biographers, classical music aficionados, and trained musicians who know the composer and…
How to Think About Music History
When I think about classical music, as I often do, I find myself thinking in particular about the way we conceive of periods in musical history. The…
Ten Odd Facts about Handel’s “Messiah”
While Handel’s Messiah is, for many, an annual Advent spectacle—certainly orchestras and choirs across the country and abroad are delivering right now—in the Classical Girl household, the 1741…
Illuminating Truth & Beauty: The Choral Music of Samuel Adler
As a reviewer for a classical record magazine, I often receive items from off the beaten track that prove illuminating discoveries. Sometimes I am moved to share…
Beethoven’s “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”
Those who have read previous essays of mine about music and composers know that I enjoy paying tribute to the lesser-known and unjustly neglected. Such undoubtedly is…
Participation with the Divine through Music: Earl Davey’s “The Arts and the Christian Life”
Earl Davey. The Arts and The Christian Life. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022. As the late philosopher Roger Scruton writes, “Beauty is a real and…
Beethoven’s Mass in C
Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Op. 86, is much less well known than his late sacred masterpiece the Missa Solemnis, and a common attitude sees it as…
Finnish Perfection: The Sibelius Violin Concerto
It’s complex, gripping, devilishly complicated, and sounds like no other concerto in the violin repertoire. Listening to Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ violin concerto, you hear dark, wintry night; pure,…
The Persistence of Beauty
It may be the greatest challenge facing those who love classical music in our modern age is the one facing those who do not also love Beauty. Those…
Music as a Window Into History and Character
I believe that the victory of certain ideas is well worth the suppression of our tranquility and even our lives. —Albéric Magnard Some people regard music as…
Ten Spooky Classical Music Favorites for Halloween
It’s Halloween, and you’re looking for that perfect, spooky Halloween music that’s a little more sophisticated than “The Monster Mash” and “Thriller” and “Werewolves of London.” Look…
Haunted by Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Organ Symphony”
Being haunted by music sounds like something I should be writing about in late October, but I think it will still work. And there’s no better way to…
Creating Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony
While a longtime fan of Tchaikovsky, I must confess that, up to a year ago, I’d never heard his Symphony No. 1, subtitled Winter Daydreams. Further, a lot…