Dvořák’s String Sextet in A Major: A Walk Through Czech Lands

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After hearing Antonín Dvořák’s String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48 in 1941, conductor Václav Talich was overcome with the pure beauty of the work, exclaiming, “Beautiful musical ideas, a beautiful structure and a beautiful sound! God himself must have been walking the Czech Lands when his humble servant Dvořák bequeathed to us a work of such excellence and sanctity…” Filled with the Slavonic folk influences, the Sextet is the enchanting music …

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Bach’s “Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer”: An Easter Lullaby

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Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer (“Gentle shall be my contemplation of death”) is a sacred tenor aria from Bach’s Easter Oratorio, BWV 249. Sung by Simon Peter following the discovering of the empty tomb of Christ, it is a serene reflection on death as a peaceful slumber. Accompanied by recorders, with their pastoral connotations, the aria unfolds with the gentle rocking motion of a lullaby. The Netherlands Bach Society writes, In Bach’s church …

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Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, “Jeunehomme”: Dramatic Surprises

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Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271 is revolutionary music filled with dramatic surprises. It has been called “one of the greatest wonders of the world” (Alfred Brendel), “perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the classical style” (Charles Rosen), “Mozart’s Eroica” (Alfred Einstein), and the concerto in which “Mozart, so to speak, became Mozart” (Michael Steinberg). The 21-year-old Mozart composed this music in January of 1777, months before he …

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Purcell’s “Sound the Trumpet”: Celebratory Music for a Royal Birthday

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In the festive countertenor duet, Sound the Trumpet, English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695) did not use actual trumpets. Instead, he called upon the singers to imitate the regal, antiphonal calls of these “instruments of joy.” First performed in April of 1694, this music is part of Come Ye Sons of Art, Z.323, the Ode for Queen Mary’s Birthday. The text is attributed to Nahum Tate, who served as poet laureate at …

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Andy Akiho’s “Pentalateral I”: Sandbox Percussion

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The music of American composer Andy Akiho (b. 1979) is infused with the sounds of the Caribbean. Based in Portland, Oregon and New York City, Akiho is a virtuoso percussionist whose primary instrument is the steelpan, a drum developed in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1930s. According to his biography, As a pannist, Akiho has a deeply physical relationship with playing, which undoubtedly informs his compositions. His style is further shaped by …

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Schumann’s “The Bride of Messina” Overture: Music for a Greek Tragedy

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Friedrich Schiller’s 1803 tragedy, The Bride of Messina, tells the story of a bitter rivalry between brothers who have fallen in love with the same woman, Beatrice. She turns out to be their long-lost sister. Amid jealous discord and a clash between paganism and Christianity, the turbulent love triangle ends in a murder-suicide. The two-act play was unusual and controversial at the time due to Schiller’s incorporation of a Greek chorus, a device …

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Bach’s “O Lamm Gottes, Unschuldig,” BWV 618: Canon Alla Quinta

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Typically, a musical canon involves a melodic line which is imitated by one or more voices after a set duration, resulting in a magical contrapuntal layering. In the chorale prelude for organ, O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig (“O Lamb of God, innocent”), BWV 618, Bach expanded on this idea by creating a canon “alla quinta” (“canon at the fifth”). Unlike a canon in unison, the voices are set a fifth apart. In this …

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