Romantic Period

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor: Krzysztof Urbański and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony

by

From childhood, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was drawn to the music of Mozart. The four-year-old Tchaikovsky was moved to tears when he heard a St. Petersburg orchestra play excerpts from Don Giovanni. Later, he recalled the experience as “a pure revelation…During several weeks I did nothing but play this opera through from the piano score; even as I fell asleep I could not part with this divine music, which pursued me long into my happy …

Read more

The Artistry of Ferruccio Busoni: Historic Recordings from 1922

by

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), who died 100 years ago last July, was a musical renaissance man. The Italian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, writer, and editor has been called “the first truly modern composer.” He is also remembered for numerous enduring transcriptions of the music of J.S. Bach. Busoni associated with such a disparate group of contemporaries as Schoenberg, Sibelius, and Edgard Varèse. His small circle of students included Kurt Weill. The pianist Alfred …

Read more

Berlioz’ “L’Enfance du Christ”: The Shepherds’ Farewell and Final Chorus

by

Hector Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ, Op. 25 (“The Childhood of Christ”) is a Christmas oratorio in three parts. It tells the story of the flight of the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus) into Egypt following King Herod’s decree that all newborn children in Judaea be massacred. Berlioz wrote the text, which is based on the Gospel of Matthew 2:13. The work was first performed at Paris’ Salle Herz on …

Read more

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”: Juraj Valčuha and the Houston Symphony

by

Founded in 1913 by philanthropist Ima Hogg, the Houston Symphony has long been regarded as one of America’s major league orchestras. Its past music directors include Andrés Orozco-Estrada (2014–2022), Christoph Eschenbach (1988–1999), André Previn (1967–1969), John Barbirolli (1961–1967), and Leopold Stokowski (1955–1961). Stokowski and the Houston Symphony gave the American premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905,” and made the first commercial recording of the work. On the recording, the …

Read more

Brahms’ Tragic Overture: Mysterious and Melancholy

by

By habit, Johannes Brahms often composed pairs of contrasting works in the same genre. Brahms’ two concert overtures, written during the summer of 1880, follow this pattern of compositional yin and yang. The impetus for the witty and celebratory Academic Festival Overture, a collection of frolicking student songs intricately developed, was an honorary doctorate, awarded to the composer by the University of Breslau. Tragic Overture, Op. 81 formed the companion piece. Describing …

Read more

Dvořák’s “The Noon Witch”: A Slavic Horror Story Told Through Music

by

In Slavic mythology, Polednice, the Noon Witch, is a demonic figure who is known to emerge in the middle of the hottest summer days, causing farmers working in the fields to suffer heatstroke or insanity. The poem, Polednice, by the Czech folklorist, Karel Jaromír Erben (1811-1870), tells the story of a mother who, while preparing lunch, is desperate to quiet a young child who screams for attention. She warns her son that …

Read more

Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony, “Reformation”: Commemorating the Protestant Revolution

by

The Protestant Reformation changed the world forever. Anticipating ideals of the Enlightenment, which swept across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was a revolutionary movement which challenged the authority of the Catholic hierarchy, elevated the sanctity of the individual, and affirmed his direct relationship with God. The 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn chose to celebrate these exalted ideals, not with a choral work, but with a dramatic symphony. Completed in 1830, the …

Read more