Beethoven, String Quartet Op. 130 (Cavatina) The late string quartets of Beethoven have a special place in the repertoire. Written in 1825, two years before Beethoven’s death, they are the last major works that he completed. We tend to divide Beethoven’s works into three periods: … Read more
Our society has hit a brick wall on education. We are into a state of hopelessness about the decline of educational standards, lifting our heads only to mutter something like: “Well, you know, uh, these kids won’t do what you tell them, and, uh, too … Read more
Barbara Allen We have made numerous references to musicologists who have gone out into the countryside to record folk music. Bartók and Kodály in Hungary, Kolberg in Poland, Janáček in Moravia, John and Alan Lomax in America, for example. And we’ve often noted how folk music … Read more
Lutoslawski, Paganini Variations for Two Pianos The Polish born Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994) has to have had one of the most interesting answers to the question “What did you do in the War?” He graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory in 1936 (piano) and 1937 (composition), but … Read more
It’s early in the semester, so few students are thinking about their term papers. But for those of us engaged in work where something written always is due (or overdue), there is no vacation from writing. Long have I claimed not particularly to enjoy writing. … Read more
Gibbons, Galliard a6 We are several years into this series, and there are still some important composers that we have not gotten around to. Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) is one of them. Gibbons grew up singing in the choir at King’s College, Cambridge, where his older … Read more
“Every performance is a premiere.” These words of wisdom came from our SMU orchestra conductor David Milnes, now conductor at UC Berkeley. He was responding to an interviewer’s question as to whether it was tedious year after year to teach the core repertoire that music … Read more
Scotch tape and colorful paper will be flying off the shelves this weekend, as people face up to the task of wrapping gifts. How nice it is to remember one traditional present that needs no wrapping and, in fact, serves as a kind of decoration … Read more
