Beethoven was revising Fidelio when he wrote to Georg Freiedrich Treitschke (who was helping to revise the libretto) (1): Now, of course, everything has to be done at once; and I could composer something new far more quickly than patch up the old with something new, as I am now doing. For my custom when I […]

Scriabin’s fiery D#-minor Etude, with its relentless triplets and huge leaps, used to just fall under my fingers, while the Lento final movement of the Copland Sonata was a minefield of wrong notes. Why is that? Is it just because we practice hard music 20 times as much as easy music, or is it psychological, […]

Each art endeavors to isolate itself, to remain independent of all others. But a play without music is like a feast without wine. Music cleanses the soul from the dust and dross of every day life and seems to say to every one: ‘You are no longer in your office, in the barracks, or in […]

While attending school in Lüneberg, J. S. Bach used to travel to Hamburg (50km away) to hear the organist of the Catharinekirche: J. A. Reincken.  Marpurg describes how Bach, returning almost penniless to Lüneberg, once rested outside an inn; how someone threw two herring heads out on the rubbish heap; how Bach – a Thuringian, to […]

“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, […]

Raoul Berger (who eventually had a fall out with the conductor Stokowski and left The Philahrmonic Orchestra) described Stokowski’s rehearsal process: In rehearsal Stoki was given to the methods of a marine drill-sergeant, brutal and insulting.  In those days he was accustomed to make sweeping changes every season, so that those who were dependent on […]

Violinist Hilary Hahn on practice and technique: I’ve always worked hard at my technique … But I’ve worked hard at my musicality as well. When I was doing my etudes my teachers always made sure I didn’t go onto the next until I had the first really good. But it wasn’t good unless it was […]

Once a devoted admirer, wife of a Vienna pianist, longed for a lock of the composer’s outrageously unkempt hair, and asked a friend to get her one. At his suggestion, Beethoven, who was a practical joker of boorish capabilities, sent her a tuft from the chin of a goat. The trick was discovered, and the […]

To mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson river in New York, composer Joseph Bertolozzi sampled sounds of percussively hitting various parts of the bridge.  He now has his sights set on using the Eiffel Tower.  Wakin, Daniel, ""After Music from a Bridge, Why Not A Tower?"", Arts Beat, 8 July […]

“Of the three prerequisites of genius; the first is soul; the second is soul; and the third is soul.” – Edwin Whipple, American essayist and critic Cited at: QuotationsBook