Category Archive

The following is a list of all entries from the History category.

Thoughts on ‘Threnody’

I recently received a lovely email from a student in Canterbury, UK: 
I’m conducting some research on Penderecki and his use of “emotive” titles for some of his works, taking Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima as a key example…I’m particularly interested to know exactly when Penderecki changed the title of this work and why, so any further [...]


New and Updated: Essays and Study Outlines

Be sure to check out my newly updated Additional Reading page!! Now featuring the essay RAVEL’S DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ: A Miracle in the Making, and 6 Study Outlines on composers, their lives, and specific featured works, including:

Lully
Boccherini
Hindemith
Messiaen
Penderecki
Ravel

I have one more essay (of which I am VERY proud) – an in-depth study on Leonard Bernstein’s Second Symphony [...]


V.T.C.M.A. 12

Yeah, yeah, I bet EVERYBODY’s blogged this one… But I just gotta get on that bandwagon, too!
Of course, I’m talking about John Williams‘ Air and Simple Gifts composed for and performed at Obama’s inaguration yesterday. The musicians? The venerable  Anthony McGill  on clarinet, Itzhak Perlman on violin, Yo-Yo Ma on cello (who was also asked by the inauguration committee to organize [...]


Virtual Music Library!!

I just stumbled across this AMAZING collection of virtual music, and I’m hooked on the idea!
For a mere $20 each, one can purchase, for example, the complete string quartets (score and parts) of Beethoven and Brahms! Or Haydn or Mozart! Or the Ultimate Collection of Violin Sonatas, Violin Concertos, Violin Solos and Duets, or Violin [...]


My Latest Work

I know… it’s been a while… But I have an excuse - because I’m getting married next week!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!
But I did want to put this up officially while I was thinking about it…
My latest completed work, Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie, is meant to be a jaunty comedic work, based on a lesser-known tale from the famous [...]