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Recommended by European Mozart Ways
Category Archives: Classical Music and Performers
Day 1 – Arrival in Prague
Welcome to the daily chronicles of my current trip. I am writing from Prague where I am doing some last-minute preparations before meeting my University of North Carolina at Greensboro students in Vienna for our annual Spring Break Music Trip. … Continue reading
Tchaikovsky’s “Variations of Rococo Theme”
When is Tchaikovsky not Tchaikovsky? Pyotr Tchaikovsky is certainly one of the best known composers we hear these days. His “1812 Overture”, “Swan Lake”, late symphonies, and, of course, “The Nutcracker” are staples of the orchestral repertoire. But one of … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony
During the summer of 1811 Beethoven’s health was suffering, and under his doctor’s orders he traveled to the Bohemian spa town of Teplice. There he began his Seventh Symphony, completed in the spring of 1812. Evidently the recuperative period produced … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
The Fifth Symphony did not begin public life auspiciously. It was composed in fits and starts from 1804-1808 as Beethoven’s deafness grew, against the looming threat of the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon’s 1805 occupation of Vienna. The premiere in 1808 … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont
Political allegory finds potent artistic manifestation in Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont. When Beethoven composed the overture and incidental music to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Egmont between 1809 and 1810, Europe was engulfed in the Napoleonic Wars (1800-1814), during which … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Third Symphony
Some years before he composed his Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), Beethoven is said to have declared to a friend, “From this day forth I shall forge a new path.” Composed in 1803-1804, the “Eroica” manifests one of the striking examples … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony
The most infrequently performed of his nine symphonies, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 has suffered comparative neglect. Positioned between the tremendously celebrated Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5, the work was depicted by Robert Schumann as “a slender Greek maiden between two … Continue reading
Beethoven’s Overture to Prometheus
At the invitation of Italian choreographer and librettist Salvatore Viganò, Beethoven composed music for Viganò’s ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus), premiered for Empress Maria Theresa at the Vienna Court Theater in 1801. Beethoven’s first work for … Continue reading
The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in Chapel Hill
On Sunday, November 14, 2011, John Eliot Gardiner brought his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique to Chapel Hill, NC for an all-Beethoven concert. The bottom line: it was wonderful! Gardiner’s concept of sound is to perform music on the instruments that … Continue reading
Smetana’s Deafness and “The Moldau”
There are several stories of great musicians who battled deafness yet continued to compose. Of course, Beethoven comes to mind. We all know his struggle to accept the impending loss of his hearing, and yet he continued to write miraculous … Continue reading
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