A young Josef HoffmannThe Polish pianist, Josef Hoffmann may have been a child prodigy. Upon hearing him play, Anton Rubinstein, who typically disliked child prodigies said told his manager, “This prodigy I believe in. Hear him!” (1) Yet in 1908, The Daily Graphic looked back on having seen the young pianist: When Joseph Hoffmann was an infant prodigy, […]
Haydn’s auditionKarl Georg Reutter II was appointed choirmaster at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in 1738. The following year he went on tour to recruit choristers. In the town of Hainburg, Joseph Haydn (at stage seven years of age) auditioned. The contemporary biography Guiseppe Carpani recalled: Reutter gave him a tune to sing at sight. The […]
StringsCello and piano String ensemble
Proportion“The traditional sense of proportion is a hang-up. The usual Mozartean concept of how long an idea lasts becomes too predictable. Some of the composers who talk the most about avoiding predictability are the ones most victimized by this predictable traditional sense of proportion.” – Morton Feldman, American composer. Cited in: Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September […]
Sondheim’s pass timesSondheim is a lover of games, and collects antique ones (many were destroyed in a fire that swept through the lower floors of the house in 1995). He has a passion for murder mysteries, puzzles (he once spent 18 months devising cryptic crosswords for New York magazine), word play and anagrams. His own name, he […]
Beethoven’s handwritingFranz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee (1786-1868) was a composer who wanted lessons with Beethoven. Beethoven would only look at his compositions. Schnyder often dined in the Mehlgrube, because he knew that Beethoven often went there at the same time in the evening. One lovely spring night Schnyder, on entering the restaurant, saw his friend Beethoven […]
Growing up in a bell towerCzech composer Bohuslav Martinů was born and spent most of his childhood in a church tower in Polička, on the borders of Bohemia and Moravia. Martinů recalled that the panoramic view encapsulated “the vast and boundless space I am always searching for in my music.” Source: Calum MacDonald, “Bohuslav Martinů”, BBC Music, August 2009, p.44.
Lord, Make Us Turn To You – Psalm 79 (80)Title: Lord, make us turn to you Text: Psalm 79 (80) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Dividing the concert takingsIn 1866 Brahms and the violinist Joachim gave a concert tour through Switzerland. One of their concerts was in Aarau. After the program, Brahms and Joachim went to a tavern, where they opened several bottles of the best vintage Swiss wine, including the popular vin mousseux of Lausanne. Brahms felt decidedly genial. “How did we […]
Life is green“All theory is grey, but the precious tree of life is green.” Maurice Ravel to Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, describing Schoenberg’s intellectualism. Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, Ravel et nous (Geneva, 1945), p. 104. Cited in: Nichols, Roger (1987) Ravel Remembered. London: Faber & Faber., p. 61.
