Schumann chasing a girlSchumann once attended a masquerade during the carnival of 1830, in company with his friend Rosen, for the purpose of paying some attention to a pretty but otherwise insignificant girl.He knew that she would be present at the ball, and, as a pretext for approaching her, put a poem in his pocket.Fortune favored him: he […]
James Levine on Tchaikovsky’s Eugene OneginConductor James Levine on Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin: Eugene Onegin is very special, an incredibly successful piece; there is nothing quite like it. The character of Tatyana is so extraordinary. Tchaikovsky absorbed certain things from Pushkin’s original poem, and then composed his own opera, which of course angered some other great Russian artists, like Stanislavsky […]
Against GregorianIn Anglican England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was considerable opposition to the Roman Catholic Gregorian chant. The Parish Choir or Church Music Book, published by the Society for the Promoting of Church Music (October 1847), applauds those who “deal heavy blows at Romanism and every other form of dissent.” (1) Part […]
A simple requestHumorists Ilf and Petrov described a concert by Rachmaninoff In New York (November 1935): The night we went to hear him he appeared tall, bent, and thin, with a long sad face, his hair closely clipped; he sat down at the piano, separated the folds of his old-fashioned back swallowtail, adjusted one of his cuffs […]
Composing for elephantsIgor Stravinsky’s Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant to be performed by young elephants (a collaboration with American choreographer George Balanchine. It ended up being performed by older elephants – the main star being Big Modoc (41 years of age). Each elephant wore a join pink tutu. Source: Dixon, Gavin “Igor Stravinsky’s pachyderm polka”, Classic […]
Self expression“My interest lies in my self-expression — what’s inside of me — not what I’m in.” – John Turturro, American actor Cited at: QuotationsBook
Mozart’s piano returns to his home“The piano that Mozart used for the last 10 years of his life and which he used to compose much of his music was returned to his former home in Vienna for a performance of his music. ‘A big, positive shock was how good the instrument is,’ said Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov after the concert […]
Mack the KnifeBobby Darin’s 1959 recording of “Mack the Knife” from The Threepenny Opera (Lyrics: Bertolt Brecht; Music: Kurt Weill) not only hit number one on the charts, but was also the first non-R&B pop hit for Atlantic Records and helped establish the label’s future. Source: Creswell, Toby (2005) 1001 Songs: The Great Songs Of All Times. […]
A very specific error indeedThe following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: The newspaper critics Bülow continued to despise because of their self-importance, and he lost no opportunity to expose their musical ignorance. On one occasion, Bülow, at a public rehearsal in the Philharmonie, remarked upon a printing error in the second horn part of the […]
Horowitz’s practice regimeThe piano technician, Franz Mohr, observed: Horowitz was consistent in all that he did. His rehearsal was always on Saturday at 4:00 p.m., his performance was on Sunday. And I always had plenty of time to prepare his piano for the concert. Of course Horowitz would have never stolen my preparation time in order to […]
