Nikolaj Zainder performs Elgar’s Violin Concerto on the original violinIn 2010, Violinist Nikolaj Znaider performed Elgar’s Violin Concerto on the same 1741 violin in which Kriesler premiered the work on a hundred years before. Znaider was not worried about comparisons to Kriesler’s original performance: “he way I think of music is that it really is something that is played in the moment – it’s […]
Any room for me?“Arthur Rubinstein was standing in the lobby of a concert hall proudly watching the audience filing in to hear one of his recitals. Finally, when the last one had gone in, Rubinstein made a move to enter. An usher blocked his way. ‘Sold out, mister’, he said, and to reinforce his words he pointed to […]
Brahms’ birthdayAfter Robert Schumann was admitted to a mental assuming in 1854, Johannes Brahms stayed with Robert’s wife, Clara Schumann to support herself and her eight children. Although Robert’s sad condition was always present in the minds of those who loved him, there was occasional happy times at the Schumann’s home in Düsseldorf. On the […]
That which precedes success“I continue to find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success.” — Thomas Edison, American inventor A. R. Calhoun How to Get On in the World; or, a Ladder to Pratical Success, New York, 1895, p.137. Digitally archived at: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/20608/pg20608.html, accessed 18 September 2021.
Mass of SolidarityTitle: Mass of Solidarity Text: Roman Catholic Mass Composer: Greg Smith Sections: – Penitential rite – Gloria – Gospel acclamation – Creed – Holy – Eucharistic acclamations – Amen – Lamb of God Additional: – Gospel acclamations for Lent (Glory and Praise to You) – Gospel acclamations for specific Sundays or Feasts available on request. Instrumentation: – SATB […]
Let My Tongue Be Silenced – Psalm 136 (137)Title: Let my tongue be silenced Text: Psalm 136 (137) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano (unison verses) Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Stokowski’s first rehearsal with the Philadelphia OrchestraOn Stokowski’s first rehearsal with the Philadelphia Orchestra: From Oscar Schwar, a fellow faculty member at Curtis who became my friend, I heard the details of Stokowski’s first contact with the orchestra. He would never forget, he said, that Monday morning of October 7, 1912, when an amazingly young and handsome Stokowski, wearing a light […]
The purpose of education“The purpose of education is to keep a culture from being drowned in senseless repetitions, each of which claims to offer a new insight.” — Harold Rosenberg, American writer, educator, philosopher and art critic. Harold Rosenberg, “On the New Cultural Conservatism”, Partisan Review, 1972, vol. 39, no. 3, p. 444. Digitally archived at http://archives.bu.edu/collections/partisan-review/search/detail?id=326096, accessed […]
Energy from work“The more work that you make, the more energy you have to make work.” – Garry Stewart, artistic director of the Adelaide-based Australian Dance Theatre. Edwards, Verity. “Dance maker with edge on top of world”, The Australian, 22 July 2011, p.7.
Vaughan Williams on an authentic performance of BachVaughan Williams gave a broadcast talk on Bach entitled “Bach the Great Bourgeois.” It was later published in The Listener. Vaughan Williams, who was involved in performances of works such as Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion as part of the Leith Hill Festival, offered some insight in contemporary approaches to Bach performance: WHEN I was a […]
