Filled with infectious melodies and sultry exoticism, Georges Bizet’s 1875 Carmen is one of the most popular and performed operas. Set in Seville, Spain, it tells the tragic story of a free-spirited Romani woman (Carmen) who seduces the soldier, Don José. He leaves his fiancée and deserts the army to be with her, but Carmen soon grows tired of his obsessive love. Carmen leaves Don José for the bullfighter, Escamillo. In the final …
In the early 19th century, valves began to appear on horns. It was an innovation which expanded the instrument’s virtuosic possibilities. Previously limited to a series of pitches based on the harmonic series, the horn could now glide up and down the chromatic scale. Robert Schumann took notice and was eager to exploit the new technology. He described his Konzertstück (“concert piece”) for Four Horns in F Major, Op. 86 as “something …
In an interview, the Hungarian composer György Kurtág (b. 1926) was asked if he is a believer. His answer was uncertain: I do not know. I toy with the idea. Consciously, I am certainly an atheist, but I do not say it out loud, because if I look at Bach, I cannot be an atheist. Then I have to accept the way he believed. His music never stops praying. And how can …
On Wednesday, we explored Dmitri Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony, one of the most haunting and tragic works of the twentieth century. This is the kind of music we often associate with Shostakovich, a composer surrounded, for much of his life, by death, destruction, and grinding political oppression. Yet, there is a more lighthearted side to Shostakovich, perhaps most evident in the sparkling and zany 1927 orchestration of the Vincent Youmans song, Tea for Two, produced …
The American cellist Lynn Harrell passed away unexpectedly on Monday. He was 76. Years ago when I was a student one summer at the Chautauqua Institution, I attended Harrell’s masterclass and recital. His down-to-earth, irreverent sense of humor, powerful, singing tone, and profound musicianship are etched in my memory. During a career that spanned six decades, Lynn Harrell appeared regularly with the world’s top orchestras. He will be remembered also as an accomplished …
J.S. Bach’s St John Passion is a haunting and dramatic musical depiction of the Passion of Christ, as told in the Gospel of John. The story of Jesus’ capture, judgment, and crucifixion, as outlined in biblical passages from John 18 and 19, are presented by the solo tenor (the Evangelist). A cast of other singers perform the roles of Jesus, Pilate, and the disciples, while the four-part choir represents the people at large. …
Irving Berlin’s timeless 1926 song, Blue Skies, was a last-minute addition to a Rodgers and Hart musical called Betsy, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. The vaudeville singer and actress, Belle Baker, called up Berlin complaining that the show’s score didn’t contain a “Belle Baker song.” According to Philip Furia and Michael Lasser, Berlin resented the interpolation of songs by other composers into the score of his shows, but he must have been delighted at the …