Summer began officially on June 21st, but the days are already getting shorter. And that fact makes me sad. I am an extreme morning bird. Yes, there really are people like me who wake up repeatedly during the night, grab the clock, and hope it’s … Read more
Beethoven, Piano Sonata Op. 57 (Appassionata) Rip out the front page! I can take a hint, especially if it’s more or less a directive issued publicly. Professor Carol said in her last post that perhaps I might feature a middle-period Beethoven sonata as a Friday … Read more
Departure Day of a tour never gets portrayed properly in the brochures. For many in each group, it starts with a brutally early hotel pickup for travel to the airport. No one likes it, of course, but if the goal is to connect to a … Read more
Corelli, Concerto in D Major, Op. 6, No. 4 Way back at the beginning of this series, we had a brief discussion of the concerto grosso. We’re talking about Performance Pick 10, a concerto grosso by Handel—218 picks ago. We briefly mentioned Corelli and his … Read more
A wild storm is brewing outside my window here on Leipziger Strasse in Berlin. It might be a relief for Berliners after such an unseasonably hot day. Regardless of how much Germans yearn for hot summers, the reality of such temperatures does seem to cause … Read more
Voting for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Excellence Awards is now open. Professor Carol’s courses have won top honors in years past, and we hope to continue that going forward. Please consider going to this link and filling out the survey.
Britten, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra For those of you with children in the home, summer can be a challenge. Schedules change, activities increase, disruptions mount. And there is always the threat of some well-laid plan being rained out or, worst of all, … Read more
Glagolitic? Who knew a 9th-century alphabet would serve as the buzz word for my latest Smithsonian group as we traveled through Croatia? Briefly defined, Glagolitic is the earliest known version of a Slavic script. The name of this curiously decorative alphabet comes from the old … Read more
Mahler, Symphony No. 7 (Finale) I came to Mahler by an unusual path. At least, I always thought it was unusual until I read that Arnold Schoenberg became a fan of Mahler the same way. That is, by way of his Symphony No. 7. I … Read more
Here we sit at the eastern end of the Island of Hvar, in the Adriatic, waiting for the next ferry. Despite arriving two hours early for the 1 p.m. ferry, our bus was not allowed to load. Basically we got bumped for a group of … Read more