Tchaikovsky composed six “numbered” symphonies, seven if you count Manfred, and eight if you count the unfinished symphony, which was supposed to be Tchaikovsky’s sixth numbered symphony. In 1889, four years ..
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Tchaikovsky composed six “numbered” symphonies, seven if you count Manfred, and eight if you count the unfinished symphony, which was supposed to be Tchaikovsky’s sixth numbered symphony. In 1889, four years ..
Tchaikovsky composed this symphony in 1875, completing it in just a few months. Despite the pain that came with composing this masterpiece, he did not mention it much in letters to his friends, other than mentioning ..
Today, I would like to share with you the Manfred Symphony by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. If you had asked me a month ago how many symphonies Tchaikovsky composed, I would have answered with a straight face: six! ..
I am taking my entire family to see Turandot, an opera composed by Giacomo Puccini, today. This is my first time seeing this magnificent opera. I have heard arias from this opera many times, and I remember how I was captivated ..
Today, I would like to share with you a wonderful short, light piece, “Introduction to Rondo,” by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). Saint-Saëns originally intended this piece to be the conclusion ..
Today I’d like to share with you a composer and concerto that are completely new to me: Giovanni Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto No. 2 in B minor. Bottesini (1821-1889) was born in Northern Italy. He studied ..
I’d like to share with you a terrific interview with Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer. He shows different sides of Beethoven. I love how he provides little, unique insights into the composer. He explains how, ..
This is a continuation of my journey into musicals (previous musicals). In this exploratory journey of musicals we’ll briefly venture into the adjacent world of opera, as I’ll discuss both Aida the opera and Aida ..
It is hard to name much writing that was published more than four hundred years ago and is still read today. Religious texts and the works of William Shakespeare come to mind, and that is about it. And then there ..
This is a continuation of my journey into musicals (previous musicals). West Side Story is a modern (1950s) version of Romeo and Juliet, set in New York. Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) composed the music ..