Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) and his sister Fanny were born into a prosperous and prominent Jewish family. Extraordinarily talented, they grew up in a highly intellectual environment. Visitors to the salon organized by their parents included the poets Heinrich Heine and

The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini made his name in Spain at the Royal Court, and then, unfortunately, got caught there when his patron was side-lined and sent to the countryside. New rulers come in and the old ruler’s family gets

What do Kismet, Song of Norway, Gypsy Lady, and The Great Waltz all have in common? They were all productions using the music of long-dead composers with updated lyrics. Robert Wright (1914-2005) worked with George Forrest (1915-1999) to bring classical

Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) essentially grew up in the slums of Hamburg. And although the famous “Herr Doktor Brahms” would later rub shoulders with Viennese high society, his eating habits apparently never changed. “I live in Vienna as if I were

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the first composers to contemplate a collection of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. However, the concept of basing a musical collection on a theoretical system of scales/harmonies was not

In all, Leonard Bernstein composed twenty-nine musical vignettes that he published in four collections called Anniversaries. The final set, containing thirteen pieces, was written between 1964 and 1988, and published as 13 Anniversaries in 1989. As in his previous attempts,

Basque composer Jesús Arámbarri (1902-1960) used both his Spanish and Basque links in his music. On one hand, the Spanish tradition of composers such as Felipe Pedrell, and Isaac Albéniz were valuable, but the addition of the music of his

The arrival of the New Year is a time filled with a lot of emotion and questions. Will 2023 be better than 2022? Will I be able to achieve what I want in 2023? How do I change what I