“So there you have the four famous Strausses!” With finality, I swirled from my imaginary podium in the aisle and plopped back into the front seat of the bus, thus concluding one of the mini-lectures I give while in transit on tours. These talks last … Read more
Albéniz, Asturias You may recall my post a couple of years ago on Francisco Tárrega. A prominent composer for classical guitar, he ran away at age 10 to play in restaurants and again at age 13 to join a band of gypsies. Tárrega had nothing on … Read more
Glinka, Viola Sonata in D Minor (1st movement) Rodney Dangerfield might say the viola gets no respect. That’s not quite true, but the viola does not enjoy much time in the limelight. It has become the subject of numerous jokes among musicians: What is the … Read more
It was good to get home Sunday evening. Remember what that pigtailed gal with the doggie said to Auntie Em? “There’s no place like home!” Of course there are always places more majestic than home. More intriguing, more evocative. We saw plenty of them on … Read more
Guastavino, Pampamapa There’s a simple way to get to know unfamiliar music: listen to it over and over again. One of my professors who was constantly introducing us to new music always stressed the importance of listening twice, the second time immediately after the first. … Read more
I have stayed in a lot of hotels over the past decade. My work on Smithsonian Journeys tours takes me through a string of European cities for weeks at a time. Also, my role speaking as “Professor Carol” puts me in a multiplicity of US … Read more
Someone remarked to me recently that he didn’t know Professor Carol dealt with art history. He just thought of her as the “music lady.” Au contraire. Professor Carol’s history courses are filled with art. You don’t have to look past the cover to see it … Read more
Gabrieli, Beata es virgo a6 Giovanni Gabrieli (1554/57 – 1612) is firmly linked with the basilica of Saint Mark’s in Venice. We addressed the architecture of the basilica and how it affected Gabrieli’s music a few years ago when we featured his Canzon septimi toni. … Read more
“We are fighters,” proclaimed our travel director Halina during her fascinating narrative as we rode through the gorgeous countryside from Warsaw to Krakow. The same sentence had resounded the previous day from our young city guide Carolina as she toured us through Warsaw. And then … Read more
