William Grant Still wanted to put the sound of the blues into a symphony. His Afro-American Symphony is centered on a bluesy theme. Still took that theme and did something […]
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From a very early age, Scott Joplin supported himself as a performing pianist. Eventually, he earned a living selling his compositions, too. Thanks to Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag, the most […]
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Many pieces of music from Russian operas have become much more famous in the concert hall than on the opera stage. Some of these pieces include Tchaikovsky’s Waltz and Polonaise […]
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Leonard Bernstein grew up in the Boston area. Here are some more composers who spent time in and around that city.
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Before television, radio, and the movies, it used to be a very big deal when the circus came to town. Circus parades and performances were always accompanied by marches called […]
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Vivaldi based each of his The Four Seasons concertos on a set of sonnets — poems. The music in each of the Four Seasons describes exactly what’s going on in […]
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The Mighty Handful, also known as the Mighty Five, were group of Russian composers who all wanted to develop a distinctly Russian style of classical music. The Mighty Five composers […]
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Every year, when the weather turned nice, Prince Esterhazy — Franz Joseph Haydn’s employer — moved his entire household to his summer palace. When it turned cold again, everyone moved […]
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George Gershwin was an American composer who combined classical music and jazz to create his own unique style. Gershwin wrote music for Broadway shows, movies, the concert hall, and opera. […]
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There are many women composers these days, and this program introduces some of them: Caroline Shaw, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Lera Auerbach, Kaija Saariaho, Chen Yi, Jennifer Higdon, Libby […]
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