Romantic Period

Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture: A Witty Musical “Thank You”

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In 1879, the University of Breslau in Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) awarded Johannes Brahms an honorary doctorate in philosophy. The acclaimed composer, who never attended college, had little use for academic titles. When Cambridge University attempted to bestow a similar honor three years earlier, Brahms declined, forgoing lionization and sea travel—both of which he despised—for the quiet comfort of his home. His postcard response to the faculty in Breslau was met with …

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Remembering Maurizio Pollini

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Maurizio Pollini, the acclaimed Italian pianist whose career spanned more than six decades, passed away on March 23 in a clinic in his native Milan. He was 82. La Scala, the opera house where Pollini frequently performed,  hailed the Grammy-winning pianist as “one of the great musicians of our time and a fundamental reference in the artistic life of the theater for over 50 years.” Pollini began performing publicly at age 11, …

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Nikolai Tcherepnin’s Prelude to “La Princesse Lointaine”: A Celebration of Orchestral Color

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Edmond Rostand’s 1895 play, La Princesse Lointaine (“The Distant Princess”), was inspired by medieval romantic legend, and the archetype of the knight errant pursuing an unattainable, idealized love: On the enchanting coasts of Provence, and under its bright blue skies, an echo bears from east to west news of a lady divinely beautiful, the pearl of Byzantium, the famous Princess Melisande. A young troubadour, Prince Geoffroy, hears of the beautiful princess. She …

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Berlioz’ Méditation “Grands Pharaons, Nobles Lagides” from “La Mort de Cléopâtre”: Jessye Norman

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It was only after four unsuccessful attempts that Hector Berlioz won the Prix de Rome. The prestigious prize, awarded by Paris’ Academie des Beaux-Arts and funded by the state, guaranteed five years of financial support for studies in Rome. By the time Berlioz finally took home the prize in 1830, he had already completed the Symphonie fantastique, a piece far more groundbreaking and consequential than his winning entry, the cantata Sardanapale.  Berlioz …

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Martha Argerich Plays Brahms: The Rhapsodies, Op. 79

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The title, “rhapsody,” suggests free and improvisatory music in which raw emotion supersedes formal structure. Johannes Brahms’ two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 for solo piano only partially conform to this definition. While both are passionately Romantic, they unfold with a clearly defined sense of structure—ternary or “ABA” in the first movement, and sonata form in the second. Brahms wrote the Op. 79 Rhapsodies during the summer of 1879 at the Austrian resort town …

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Brahms’ Second Symphony: Pastoral Sunshine and Shadows

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When it came to writing his First Symphony, Johannes Brahms felt the anxiety of influence. The nine symphonies of Beethoven were so transformative that Brahms was haunted by the “footsteps of a giant” marching behind him. The situation was made worse by Robert Schumann’s enthusiastic public prediction that the young Brahms was destined to become “the heir to Beethoven.” He would carry forward the mantle of “absolute” music, as opposed to the …

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Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A Minor: Spirited Bohemian Strains

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Once, while reflecting on his music, Antonín Dvořák commented, “I myself have gone to the simple, half-forgotten tunes of the Bohemian peasants for hints in my most serious works. Only in this way can a musician express the true sentiment of his people.” Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 overflows with the spirited strains of the composer’s Czech homeland. Bending sonata form and liberating the traditional structure of the concerto, …

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