While in London, Chopin frequently gave performances at soirées and matinées where he performed Nocturnes, Waltzes, Mazurkas and the Berceuse George Hogarth reported in the Daily News (10 July 1848): He accomplishes enormous difficulties, but so quietly, so smoothly and with such constant delicacy and refinement that the listener is not sensible of their real […]

In the late nineteenth-century, some quite curious mechanical inventions were created to deal with the body with relation to pianists and conductors.    The following is an account of a presentation by T. L. Southgate on The Physiology of Pianoforte Piano. The paper presented was written by W. Macdonald Smith.  This account appeared in the […]

Title: Of the Father’s Love Begotten Tune: Divine Mysterium Composer: 11th Century Chant Arranger: Greg SmithInstrumentation: SATBProduct medium: PDF score Sample:

Samuel Sebastian Wesley received great reviews for his conding at Gloucester’s annual Three Choir Festivals in 1865. An critic in The Musical Times wrote in the October issue: We have said nothing of the orchestra during these performances, for in truth the perfect manner in which the whole of the instrumental portions of the works […]

“I am a very simple man. I am a man first, an artist second. My first obligation is to the welfare of my fellow man. I will endeavour to meet this obligation through music, since it transcends language, politics and national boundaries.” – Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist. Source: pablocasals.com. Accessed 22 Jan 2013.

Title: May the Peace of Christ Reign in your Hearts Text: Col. 3:12. 14-17. Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:

“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” – Lauren Bacall, American actress Cited at: QuotationsBook

Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge, for it requires from its disciples, composers and performers alike, not only talent and enthusiasm, but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection. Hector Berlioz, A Travers Chants. Cited in I. Lipsius, Thoughts of Great Musicians, London, Augener, […]

“Only art experienced within, in which the personality plays a creative role can be of interest …To achieve this, those of you who are not already in this sense dead, must die an expiatory death of all superficiality, of all that you have already learnt, of all encumbrances and of all that is false. Then, […]

“I firmly believe, nor am I ashamed to assert, that next to theology no art is equal to music; for it is the only one, except theology, which is able to give a quiet and happy mind. This is manifestly proved by the fact that the devil, the author of depressing care and distressing disturbances, […]