The beautiful Christmas song Carol of the Bells is just over a century old. The music, based on a Ukrainian folk chant, Shchedryk (The Generous One), was written by Mykola Leontovych. The original lyrics tell of a swallow flying into

The history of Christmas makes fascinating reading. Christmas, as we know, is the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For the most part, it is observed on December 25, but as with a good many other religious holidays,

By 1937, David Oistrakh was considered the leading Soviet violinist. He had participated in a good number of competitions and was under tremendous pressure from the government during that time. Gennadi Rozhdestvensky wrote, “Young musicians who took part in competitions

Haydn was rich, but he wasn’t born wealthy… He did come from humble origins, but for his gentrified English audience Joseph Haydn was an accomplished composer, businessman, and gentleman. Yet, his early years of poverty and struggles during his years

Frédéric Chopin had a love affair with food. On a trip to the town of Toruń, the 15-year-old composer goes to great length to describe the local food specialty. Although he visited the famed Copernicus museum and various fortified building,

Johann Strauss II was one of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s (1897-1957) musical idols. Korngold possessed considerable knowledge of the Waltz King’s works as he had arranged for the Theater an der Wien new performing versions of Nacht in Venedig, Cagliostro in

Alfredo Casella (1883-1947) entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 12, taking piano lessons from Louis Diémer and instructions in composition from Gabriel Fauré. As you will probably know, Casella came from a highly musical family. His father, Alfredo Piatti was

Let’s continue to look at Debussy’s relationships with his fellow artists and musicians. The Scottish operatic soprano Mary Garden wrote, “I honestly don’t know if Debussy ever loved anybody really. He loved his music – and perhaps himself. I think