The Magic of the Stradivarius

What makes Stradivarius violins so special? Made by Antonio Stradivari and his family, these instruments are among the most valuable violins in the world, highly regarded by performers and audiences. Take a look at pictures from the Stradivarius exhibition at Oxford's Ashmolean museum, uncovering the beauty of these musical works of art.

The Alard Stradivarius

Antonio Stradivari is one of the most famous makers of stringed instruments (otherwise known as luthiers) of all time. His instruments are highly regarded and often sell for six figure sums at auction thanks to their unique sound and esteemed history. Created in 1715, in Stradivari's 'golden period' this violin takes its name from French violinist Jean-Delphin Alard, its most famed owner. The instrument sold at auction in 1981 to a collector in Singapore for $1.2 million. Look at the ornate carving on the tailpiece.

Eugen d'Albert - His Music and Life

Eugen d'Albert was born on April 10, 1864 in Glasgow/Scotland. His father was the very known dance composer Charles d'Albert (1809-1886), an Italian grand duke's descendant.

D'Albert studied in London, then in Vienna with Hans Richter (1843-1916) and in Weimar with the unforgettable Franz Liszt. As a blessed pianist, he went on several concert tours. D'Albert admired very much Ludwig van Beethoven (by the way: me too!), whom he gave the real monstrous pathos, which Beethoven really deserves.

Johannes Brahms became an intimate friend.

From his compositions are still known and part of stage performances such as "The Concerto for Cello in c-major" from 1899 and
"The Concerto for Piano in e-major" from 1893. Out of 21 operas the following pieces are more then remarkable: "Die Abreise" (The departure, 1898), "Die toten Augen" (The dead eyes, 1916), and most especially "Tiefland" (The Plain, 1903).

Eugen d'Albert passed away on March 3, 1932 in Riga, the capital of Lativa.

Paul Lincke - His Music and Life

Born on November 7, 1866 in Berlin, the German Paul Lincke has become a popular composer.

Lincke's father was a known and successful municipal authorities civil servant. In Wittenberg's Piper College in Eastern Germany, Paul Lincke studied violin and bassoon play.

Then, Linncke became the Director General of the Berlin Apollo Theater.

1897 marked Lincke's first big stage success with a during those times so called "equipment revue" entitled "Venus on Earth". National traditions mixed with a unique and real "Berlinian operetta sound" has been the reasons of Lincke's entire success: "Frau Luna" (Madame Luna, 1899), "Lysistrata" (1902, with the evergreen "The glimmering glow-warm", one of my late grandmother's favourites), or "Casanova" (1914, badly on stage, because World War I just started).

"Berliner Luft" (Air from Berlin) remained as unofficial anthem of Berlin till today.

Paul Lincke passed away in Clausthal-Zellerfeld on September 3, 1946.

10 OMG Moments in Classical Music

What are the greatest moments in classical music history? The bits that make you immediately rewind and play them again? Simply, the most surprising, shocking, beautiful or weird bits in classical music? Here are 10 moments that will make you say 'OMG'… 

1. The top C in Allegri's Miserere

There you are, just chilling out with a bit of 17th century choral music like any self-respecting person would do, and then all of a sudden, BAM! High C! Emotional overload! Skip straight to it by pressing play below…

2. The climax of Beethoven's 9th Symphony

Everyone sing along! "Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium!" This is such a fist-pumping moment. How fist-pumping? Well, it's supposed to encapsulate the joy of humanity, of being alive, Germanic might, the brotherhood of man and basically all worldly positivity, which is a pretty tall order. Does Beethoven manage it? Take a listen… (the answer's 'yes', by the way.)

3. The opening chords of Elgar's Cello Concerto, played by Jacqueline Du Pré

Few pieces are so iconic that they can be defined by a few chords alone, and few musicians are so iconic that they can be defined by one piece. In a word, 'whoompf'.
Watch the performance here .

4. The Tristan Chord

How can one chord redefine the way we think about music? Well, it's simple. All Wagner did when he plonked this gorgeous little progression into the opening of his opera Tristan und Isolde was use an augmented fourth, an augmented sixth and an augmented ninth above the root to imply a completely different harmonic relation. Easy, yeah? Oh, just listen to it…

5. Don Giovanni is dragged to hell

Much of Mozart's Don Giovanni is actually quite humorous, with amorous japes and farce aplenty, but things take an incredibly sinister turn right at the end when the Don himself (think of him as a folkloric version of Russell Brand with comparable dress-sense) is finally forced to atone for his sins. There's a slow knock at the door, Giovanni opens it and is confronted with a stone state of the Commendatore, who drags the screaming Don into the fiery netherworld. Yikes!
Watch the whole scene here .

6. When all 40 voices come together in Spem in alium

Spem In Alium is a choral classic given a new audience thanks to a certain E.L. James, but we prefer to think of Thomas Tallis' piece as it was intended - a whacking great 40-part motet with one of the most breathtaking ensemble entries in the whole repertoire. Press play below to hear those 40 parts suddenly arrive all at once…

7. "Zaaadoook The Prieeest!"

You know how it is. You're just bumbling along, minding your own business, maybe there's some baroque music in the background… KAPOW! Mass choral entry! Something about a priest! Make sure you're sitting down for this one.

8. The Rite Of Spring causes a riot


Imagine being so maddened and confused by a piece of music that you start a riot. A bit like how parents of Justin Bieber fans must feel, maybe. Anyway, Igor Stravinsky's Rite Of Spring was the original authority-botherer, with its rhythmic and textural originality causing the audience at its premiere to turn into a gibbering rabble, 40 of whom were ejected from the theatre. Give the Augurs Of Spring section a listen and try to resist the urge to flip a table.

9. When Ride Of The Valkyries turns up in Apocalypse Now
When he was composing Die Walküre , it's probable that Richard Wagner didn't have the Vietnam war in mind. However, since Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, this exhilarating music has become associated with exactly that. And helicopters. And explosions.


10. The high notes in the Queen Of The Night aria

As well as being an OMG moment, this is a "did I just hear that correctly?" moment. Actually, it's more like an "is that an alien singing, and why has my champagne flute exploded?" moment. Just listen.

Orlando di Lasso - His Music and Life

Lassus, also known by the Italian form of his name Orlando di Lasso, belonged to the Franco-Flemish school of composers whose work was of supreme international importance in the 16th century. He was born at Mons, in Hainaut, in 1532, and as a boy entered the service of a member of the Gonzaga family (hereditary dukes of Mantua). Employment elsewhere in Italy and a stay in Antwerp was followed by a position in the musical establishment of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich, where Lassus remained from 1556 until his death. With Palestrina and Victoria, he is one of the most important composers of the period.

Church Music

Lassus wrote a considerable quantity of church music, including over 70 settings of the Mass, settings of the Passions from the four evangelists, and a very large number of motets. From this considerable body of high-quality work, selection is invidious; but mention may be made of the Requiem for four voices, the Missa Qual donna, motets such as Tristis est anima mea, and the setting of the seven penitential Psalms of David and of the Holy Week Lamentations.

Secular Vocal Music

The secular vocal compositions of Lassus include madrigals, in the Italian style, some 150 French chansons, and a much smaller number of German Lieder, all of great interest and forming a large body of work, including settings of Petrarch, Ariosto, Ronsard and Marot, from which selection is again invidious.

Ruggiero Leoncavallo - His Music and Life

Born in Naples on March 8, 1858, the Italian composer studied at the Naples College of Music and became a private music teacher and touring pianist in between those careers.

In 1892, Leoncavallo came out with the opera "I Pagliacci" (The Barber) in two acts. Together with the one act opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), "The Barber" constitutes a wonderful one evening stage play in many concert houses and theatres. 

I have been blessed to experience several stage performances in different European cities.

The barber's part, the cheated comedian, has been holding great attractions for many world known tenors.

Unbelievable for me: all other operas of Leoncavallo flopped, even containing wonderful and incredible melodies, who might break your hearts. "Der Roland von Berlin" (1904, dedicated to the last German Emperor II). 

Leoncavalo passed away on August 9, 1919 in Montecatini Toscana County/Italy.

Ruggiero Leoncavallo - his Music and Life

SOON HERE...

Josef Matthias Hauer - His Music and Life

Born on March 19, 1883, the Austrian Josef Matthias Hauer, a simple elementary school teacher who wanted to be treated as the composition inventor of the so-called "12-tones-numbers-technique" or - in Greece - Dodecaphony.

Since 1908, Hauer used that technique in all his compositions.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), the "real Dodecaphony inventor never accepted Hauer's theory and work, Hauer calculated 479,001,600 combination possibilities of those sound or tones. 44 main types became the fundaments of Hauer's compositions: "About the colors of sounds" (1919), "Melodies interpretations" (1923, one of my favourite pieces of Hauer), or "From the melody to kettle-drum" (1925).

Hauer's opinion has remained till today as "embodiment and portrayal of an impartial melody" such as in the "Transubstantions Oratorio" from 1928 or "Salambo", an opera from 1930.

Hauer passed away in Vienna on September 22, 1959.

Josef Matthias Hauer - His Music and Life

SOON HERE!

George Gershwin - His Music and His Life

George Gershwin, born on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn/New York, passed away on July 11, 1937 in Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Gershwin loved to study music seriously with Rubin Goldmark, a relative of Karl Goldmark (1830-1915).

At the age of 16, Gershwin composed his first hits, The co-operation with Paul Whiteman ("King of Jazz", born in Denver/Colorado on March 28, 1890) influenced Gershwin definitely and fruitful.

1924, the "Rhapsody in Blue" became a world hit. 1925, the "Piano Concerto in F" came into being - performed by George Gershwin himself under the baton of Walter D. Damrosch (1862-1950, Poland und USA).

More incredible successful compositions followed: "An American in Paris" (1928), "The Cuban Overture" (1932) and the "negro opera" "Porgy and Bess" (1935). Who doesn't know "Summertime" or " I ain't got no shame"?

A successful mixture of naivety, wizened jazz elements and spirituals standardized in an incredible music talent let many classical composers never stopped expressing their praises to Gershwin - like Igor Strawinsky or Maurice Ravel... .

Classical Music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times.^[1] The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period.
European music is largely distinguished from many other non-European and popular musical forms by its system of staff notation, in use since about the 16th century.^[2] Western staff notation is used by composers to prescribe to the performer the pitch, speed, meter, individual rhythms and exact execution of a piece of music. This leaves less room for practices such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation, which are frequently heard in non-European art music and popular music.^[3][4][5]
The term "classical music" did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to "canonize" the period from Johann Sebastian Bach to Beethoven as a golden age.^[6] The earliest reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836.^[1][7]

George Bizet - His Music and Life

Born on October 25, 1838, in Paris, the French George Bizet passed away -also in Paris- on June 3, 1875.

As a music professor's son, Bizet started to study at the Parisienne College of Music at the age of 9!!! During the ten academic years Bizet passed many examinations with distinctions. One of his teacher was Jacques Halevy a.k.a. Elias Levy (1799-1862), his then future father-in-law.

At the age of 17 (1855), Bizet composed his first symphony in c-major. The premiere took place only in 1935 through Felix von Weingaertner (1863-1942) in Basel, Switzerland. Bizet considered this composition as immature 'schoolboy-work".

In 1857, his operetta "Le Docteur Miracle" (The Wonder Doctor0 won the first prize. In Italy, Bizet composed the comic opera "Don Procopio" with its premiere only 1906 in Monte Carlo.

The following operas remained as very unsuccessful, even they content many wonderful classic compositions: "Le Pecheurs de Perles" (1863), "Ivan le Terrible" (1865) or "Djamileh" (1877).

The two "L'Arlesienne Suites" (1872 and 1876) remained as world record classical compositions till today and are being aired on European radio stations many times.

The opera "Carmen" is one of the most performed operas worldwide up to now and remained as Bizet's great success.

Hector Berlioz - His Music and Life. Hector Berlioz: Enfant Terrible!

Born on December 11, 1803 in La Cote-Saint-Andre, Dauphine, the French Hector Berlioz passed away in Paris on March 8, 1869.

His father, a blessed doctor, wanted his son to follow him in his footsteps.

But in 1826, Berlioz shifted his medicine study to the College of Music. His father cut off all his supports. But Berlioz earned a lot of money with his early compositions such as "Waverly" (1828) - eight scenes "Doktor Faustus" (1829) and - also during the same year - his most successful composition "Symphony fantastique, Episode de la vie d'un Artiste" (Episodes from an artist's life).

When Ludwig van Beethoven passed away, it was a hazardous business to compose symphonies, "Dias Irae" and "Lello ou le retour de la vie" (Return to live, 1832), flopped. In his symphony "Romeo and Juliet" (1839), Berlioz utilized solos and chorus parts and call it "his first dramatic symphony".

"Le Carneval Romain" (his first opera, 1843) became unfortunately only successful in some parts.

Even though, Berlioz became one of the blessed French classical composers - sometimes reaching a despairing desperation, and ruffling up insanity and madness.

Hector Berlioz: Enfant Terrible!

by Georg Predota, Interlude

Hector Berlioz

Whether we like it or not, Hector Berlioz is primarily associated with a single composition. Everybody knows his Symphonie Fantastique, but his religious works, the dramatic legends, his songs and even his operas are rarely scheduled for performance, and they have remained an enigma to the concert going public. One of the most idiosyncratic artistic geniuses of all time, Berlioz’s music resists easy classification or categorization. He simply refused to fit neatly into one category or the other, as his compositions manipulate all aspects of musical rhetoric and discourse in order to achieve a broader artistic end. Genre designations play only a secondary role, as his symphonies evoke the theater and his operas, cantatas and songs pay only nominal tribute to established categories. In addition, he freed tone color from its subservient function of merely clarifying the melody, rhythm, harmony and counterpoint of a piece, and gave it an aesthetic reason for existing and a significance of its own.


His chosen path plunged the budding composer into an archetypal struggle, not only for financial survival but also for the acceptance of his artistic ideas, a task to which he would tirelessly devote all his creative and intellectual energy. And as you might well imagine, he was widely misunderstood in his own lifetime. Claude Debussy, as he was working on his own opera, Pelleas et Melisande, wrote “Berlioz was never, properly speaking, a musician of the theater.” This seems a rather strange comment on a composer whose work is from beginning to end intensely dramatic in character. For his critics, Berlioz was more successful as a dramatist in his symphonies than in his stage works. The dramatic brilliance of his orchestral writing, according to the argument, detracted from the theatrical effectiveness of his operas. Berlioz completed only five operas, but he contemplated or sketched many more and had at least one operatic project in mind throughout his life. 

Berlioz’s skill as an orchestrator lays not in the novelty of the instruments themselves as much as it is found in his skill of using and combining them. Before Berlioz, the functions of orchestral instruments associated melody and harmony mainly in the string choir, with winds used for occasional reinforcement and soloistic color. For Berlioz, as he comprehensively described in his treatise on orchestration and instrumentation, the invention of a particular tone colors for individual passages was part of the normal process of composition. Harmony and correct voice-leading become secondary elements, and melody and the color of the orchestral sound makes almost exclusive claims upon our attention. We know that Berlioz responded to a request from Niccolo Paganini in his composition of Harold in Italy, but the combination of solo viola and orchestra in a symphony is nevertheless highly unusual! Paganini didn’t like it at all because it was not sufficiently virtuosic. 

Berlioz sought employment in the theatre and the Conservatoire, but never in the Church. His pronouncements about religious music are the views of an unorthodox Christian, but he did set several sacred texts with a strong personal vision that discloses deeply religious roots. In his memoirs he writes about his fugue from the Messe solennelle, “Let people who have never heard anything like it, imagine what kind of devout expression arises when fifty voices, howling with fury in a lively tempo, repeat Amen four or five hundred times, or vocalize on the syllable “a,” so as to sound like raucous laughter. I defy anyone with the slightest musical feeling not to interpret such a chorus as an army of incarnate devils, making fun of the sacrament, rather than a gathering of the faithful praising god.” In essence, his religious music is primarily theatrical and orchestral, as his aim seems to have been a display of unity of subject matter and artistic purpose, rather then one of musical means.

Alban Berg - His Music and Life

Born on February 9, 1885 in Vienna, the Austrian Alban Berg passed away on December 24, 1935 - also in Vienna.

Berg became a civil servant, but gave up this unique career while becoming a student of Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951, Los Angeles).

He was a down to earth person and thought himself to be part of the restored classical composers. His first compositions had been in rapture over disarming sounds and tones. The highlight became the "Four Clarinet Pieces" from 1913.

"Wozzeck", Berg's only opera reflected his experiences as a soldier during World War I. His supposed last opera "Lulu", composed in a 12-sound-technique, remained unfinished up to its premiere 1937 in Zurich/Switzerland.

Franz von Suppe - His Music and Life

Franz von Suppe, born on April 18, 1819, was one of the founders of Viennese operetta, attaining a position in Austria comparable to that of Jacques Offenbach in France. 

Suppe wrote over 200 compositions for the stage, including 30 operettas, farces, and incidental music. Nearly all these works have slipped into oblivion, but some of their sparkling overtures have survived and remain popular as light music, especially "Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna" (1844), "Poet and Peasant" (1846), and "Light Cavalry" (1866). In the United States, Suppe's music is probably best known for its frequent appearance on the soundtracks of old Hollywood movies and cartoons. Suppe was born in Split, Dalmatia, of Italian and Belgian descent. His real name was Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Suppe-Demelli. He spent most of his life in Vienna and was Kapellmeister of the prestigious Theatre an der Wien from 1845 to 1862. Suppe was also a noted vocalist and sang bass roles in some of his early operettas.

His passed away on May 21, 1895 in Vienna.