If there was ever a composer who was acutely aware of his place in history, it was Johannes Brahms. He knew from a very young age, what he wanted to do in life, and by the time he reached middle age, he was well aware of his standing in the history of ...
I would like to open this essay by quoting from Charles Rosin’s book, “The Classical Style.” On page 281 he says, “No other composer of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ever understood the demands of writing for three voices as Mozart did, except for Bach in his trio-sonatas for double manual and ...
The repertoire of choral music of J.S. Bach is vast and contains many consummate masterpieces that rise far above the level of all other choral music, even exceeding Handel at times. There are many enormous works, such as the B minor mass, the St Mathew Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio. There are ...
It seems that every so often in the course of history there comes along a songwriter or songwriting team that stands head and shoulders above all of their contemporaries. The partnership of Lennon and McCartney represents a high water mark of songwriting in the latter half of the twentieth century. Without a ...
It seems to me that it is a great deficiency of our language that the same word is used to describe the way we feel about our spouse, our children, our siblings, our dog, chocolate ice-cream, and the reason why we give to charity. One word, love, is commonly used in ...
The word "classical" as it relates to music, is certainly an often misused term. I shall attempt to describe the differences in musical styles from late renaissance through the early part of the twentieth century.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a much greater distinction between music for public and private entertainment than is generally the case nowadays. Symphonies, concertos, and operas were intended for the most part, to be public entertainment. Chamber music was intended as private entertainment for those who could afford ...
