Liszt meets BeethovenI was about eleven years old when my respected teacher Czerny took me to see Beethoven. Already a long time before, he had told Beethoven about me and asked him to give me a hearing some day. However, Beethoven had such an aversion to infant prodigies that he persistently refused to see me. At last […]
Bruckner’s dogSome of Anton Bruckner’s students decided to play a trick on him. While he was out to lunch, they played music on the piano for Bruckner’s dog. As one of them played a motive from Richard Wagner’s music, the others chased the dog around the room and slapped him. But when they played from Bruckner’s […]
Stravinsky and Charlie ParkerThere is a story that Igor Stravinsky went to the New York jazz club Birdland one evening in 1951. Whispers went round that the great composer was in the house. When Charlie Parker came on with his quintet, he didn’t acknowledge Stravinsky in person, but seamlessly quoted The Firebird in his first number, the furiously […]
Brahms on inspirationJohannes Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann. whom he greatly admired: It is from you that I am constantly learning that one cannot obtain vital force out of books, but only out of one’s soul. One must draw inspiration not from without, but from within. Cited in: Goss, Madeleine & Schauffler, Robert (1943) Brahms The Master. […]
Active listeningListening to music should always be an active process, and those who attend – pregnant verb – concerts, who listen, who respond, who treasure what they hear there, are musicians. They are the ones who do not let music wash over them like a bubble bath but who actively swim in the water. When vibrations […]
Instrumental stereotypesInsider jokes are not just for White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinners or ESPN kibitzers or Academy Awards emcees. They also crop up in discussions about symphony orchestra musicians — a society unto itself. There are jibes and even sober-minded studies that characterize personality types according to the instruments they play. Who are the string players? […]
Technology and the future of musicThe future direction of music demands that musicians today lose themselves in technology and learn from their mistakes. In the past, musicians tended to view technology as a nuisance—something someone else did so they could be left alone to create. But technology and music are merging rapidly—forcing musicians to view software as part of their […]
One way to get a doctorateRobert Schumann aspired to be awarded a doctorate degree. On January 31 1840, Robert Schumann asked a friend to appeal to the University of Jena to give him an honorary degree, or set him a degree to pass, on the grounds of: “My sphere of action as an editor on a high-class paper, which has […]
Aim above the mark“If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it; Every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet.
Here I Am, Lord – Psalm 39 (40)Title: Here I Am, Lord Text: Psalm 39 (40): 2, 4, 7-1. R. vv.8-9 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
