Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

  by  Emily E. Hogstad    February 5th, 2026 Artists and composers are famous for their wild love lives. Turns out, their love letters are just as fascinating as you’d expect. Today, we’re looking at love letters from ten composers, including Mozart being very saucy on a business trip,  Brahms  pining over  Clara Schumann , and  Haydn  making a shocking confession to his mistress. Joseph Haydn, 1791 Joseph Haydn In these two love letters to his mistress, singer Luigia Polzelli, Haydn writes about her husband’s fatal illness…and longs for “four eyes [to] be closed”, a reference to his hope that his own wife will die, too! London, 14th March 1791 Most esteemed Polzelli, I am very sorry for you in your present circumstances, and I hope that your poor husband will die at any moment; you did well to put him in the hospital, to keep him alive… London, 4th August 1791 Dear Polzelli! …As far as your husband is concerned, I tell you that Providence h...

 by Janet Horvath “What? D-Flat Major?” Most string players wail, “that’s a key signature with  FIVE FLATS! ” I don’t blame them. It’s so much more difficult to play in tune on string instruments without the resonance of the open strings. Pianists, though, will be elated. They get to play on all of the black keys. Numerous composers have used D-flat major to depict lush, dreamy sounds, and to explore the richness and depth of expression imaginable in this key. Perhaps you know that many composers associated specific emotions with certain keys. The key of E-flat major is a case in point, a key that is considered heroic. Think Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 The  Eroica , Strauss’  Ein Heldenleben , a Hero’s Life, and dozens of string quartets and symphonies by Haydn, Sibelius, Elgar, Dvořák, Mozart, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Mahler. Frédéric Chopin © Getty Image One of the most famous piece for piano in D-flat is the Cho...

by E mily E. Hogstad , Interlude No matter how many of us end up moving into towns and cities, human beings are still irresistibly drawn to forests, woodlands, and trees. Classical composers are no exception. In fact, a huge percentage of them were great nature lovers (Beethoven, for one, often composed in his head during his walks), and many of them went so far as to write music inspired by forests. Forest under bright sunlight © Flux AI Image Generator Today, we’re looking at fifteen pieces of classical music about trees. Put on your hiking boots and join us! Francesco Geminiani: La foresta incantata (1754)   Italian composer Francesco Geminiani lived from 1687 to 1762. He helped to popularise the Italian style of violin playing abroad, most famously in London. He was widely admired during his lifetime, being considered the equal of composers like Handel and Corelli, but for whatever reason, he has fallen out of favour today. In 1754, he wrote a pantomime ball...

by Emily E. Hogstad Classical music has been used for political purposes countless times, both in oppressive regimes (like in Stalin’s Soviet Union and Nazi Germany) and in battles for self-determination and freedom (like in the Finnish independence movement). European revolutions have had classical music as their soundtrack for a very long time. © jewishjournal.com Today, we’re looking at ten pieces of classical music about freedom, from  Beethoven ’s opera set in prison to Undine Smith Moore’s defiant piano music about the experience of being Black in America. Let’s get started: Ludwig van Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3 (1806) In Beethoven’s opera  Fidelio , a Spanish nobleman named Florestan threatens to expose the corruption of a colleague named Pizarro. Pizarro wrongfully imprisons Florestan and tells the rest of the world that he has been killed. However, Florestan’s wife, Leonore, refuses to believe the news. So she dresses up as a boy, renames herself Fidelio, ...