Liszt, Les Préludes I sometimes think of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) as a neighbor. You can find numerous references to him and to his house throughout the materials on this site. Professor Carol wrote about the house this past summer as she sat outside with the … Read more
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. So read the title of a zany, star-studded 1969 comedy that parodied a frantically paced European tour (18 days, 9 countries). I didn’t see the movie, but I remember thinking when it came out: “Gosh, any chance to … Read more
Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf Several times in the course of writing this series (four years now) I have taken up a topic that I stick with for a few weeks, although I try to be sure each week’s entry can stand alone. Last week … Read more
Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15 Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) consists of 13 short character pieces. Because they are not especially demanding technically, you might assume they were written for children to play or for young audiences. And actually, they attracted me at a young age … Read more
Almost everyone I saw was reading. Was I in a library? No. I was crossing the Atlantic in an older 767—one that lacked in-seat entertainment screens (at least in economy class). The absence of TV screens gave me a bit of a shock when I … Read more
Handel, Ombra mai fu (from Xerxes) Most everyone knows Handel’s Messiah, but Handel was primarily an opera composer. Oratorios followed the operatic style while omitting the staging in deference to Lent. The opera Xerxes (Serse) was written in 1738. It had little success, but the aria … Read more
I’m not an outdoorsy person. The largest swaths of my life have been spent in practice rooms, classrooms, and libraries. But that may be about to change. Last night, a Smithsonian Journey’s tour of the Swiss Alps drew to a close. The irony of finding … Read more
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition The Russian artist Viktor Hartmann died suddenly in 1873 at the age of 39. A few months later in 1874, a memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s works was held. Mussorgsky owned two paintings by Hartmann that were included in the exhibition. … Read more
I’m in Philadelphia, waiting to board a plane to Switzerland. The four-hour gap between my morning flight from Dallas-Fort Worth and my departure to Zürich seems a godsend. Things have been moving like a whirlwind the past few days, including a brush with Hurricane Florence’s … Read more
