Requiem Masses have long served as a way for nations to mourn their public figures…. The best known of course is Verdi’s Requiem Mass, but which public figure was it meant to honor? Therein lies a tale…
Verdi’s Mighty Requiem
Bruckner, Symphony No. 7
Is it wrong to wish Anton Bruckner had been a little more stubborn? Certainly it would have simplified the work of identifying the definitive performance scores for his symphonies if he’d just said, “Close enough” and moved on….
Curse of the Ring: Das Rheingold
Richard Wagner began his monumental cycle of operas Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) in 1848, in the wake of the Age of Enlightenment…
Carmina Burana
If the apocalypse has a soundtrack, it’s “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana…
O Magnum Mysterium
Sacred music takes as many forms as humanity has images of God. The majestic sovereign of Handel’s “Hallelujah” Chorus, the terrifying and wrathful god in the “Dies irae” of Verdi’s Requiem, the simple beauty of Bach’s “Sheep may safely graze”—all startlingly different from each other, and all capturing some facet of our perception of deity…
Joshua Bell & Larisa Martínez: Voice & the Violin
When superstar violinist Joshua Bell and operatic soprano Larisa Martínez tied the knot in 2019, they had no idea about the future that awaited them. They barely had time to pause their busy careers…
Respighi: Pines of Rome
Resphigi’s fascination with Rome’s fountains and pine trees reflects a love affair with his new home. Upon moving to Rome from his native Bologna in 1913, Respighi said that the city’s “marvellous fountains” and “umbrella-like pines that appear in every part of the horizon [have] spoken to my imagination above all.”
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
It’s hard for us to imagine Antonio Vivaldi as a radical. Yet to 18th-century audiences, his masterwork, The Four Seasons, was like a breath of fresh air to some, a slap in the face to others. “Il Prete Rosso has gone crazy this time,” some must have muttered…
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony
The history of the symphony orchestra is all about growth. As composers’ ideas and demands became bigger and more complex, so did the number and type of instruments required to bring them to life….
Berlioz tells it like it is.
The life of French composer Hector Berlioz encompassed contradictory extremes….