Tag Archives: Music History
Today in Music / August 20
On this day in 1882, the world heard the first performance of Tchaikovsky‘s 1812 Overture, in Moscow. It was commissioned by Tsar Alexander II for performance at Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The music is a retelling of the invasion of Napoleon’s French Allied Army into Russia. The Overture’s score calls for the firing of […]
What Others Say / Victor Hugo
Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. —Victor Hugo, French poet and novelist
What Music Looks Like / Bach Contrapunctus 9
My brass quintet, Phoenix Chamber Brass, is working on music for our upcoming season, and we’ve decided to do several parts of “The Art of Fugue,” including this one. So I found this the other day and thought it was really interesting to see the sheet music, the performer, and an abstract visual representation of […]
Today in Music / J.S. Bach
On this day in 1750, Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig, Germany, at age 65. He enriched our world beyond words.
Today in Music / July 17
On a beautiful evening in 1717 (it just happened to be 7/17/1717!), King George I of England sailed down the River Thames on the royal barge with several close friends. They were serenaded by fifty musicians (on another barge), who premiered George Frideric Handel’s Water Music, a collection of orchestral movements. The king was said […]
Today in Music / July 16
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384) was performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on this day in 1782. Although the Emperor Joseph II may (or may not) have pronounced the music had “too many notes,” the opera was a huge success and continues to be frequently […]
Today in Music / July 6
In 1957 John Lennon and Paul McCartney are introduced for the first time at a concert of John’s skiffle band, the Quarrymen, in a suburb of Liverpool. A songwriting power team is born. They would go on to write twenty-seven number 1 hits. Among others. Do you have a favorite?
Today in Music / July 1
Today in 1915, blues musician, record producer, and songwriter Willie Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, now a well-known location on the so-called Blues Trail. A Grammy Award-winner, Dixon was one of the founders of the influential Chicago blues sound. (Check this out, a clip from 1966.) Additionally, he was a prolific songwriter (“Little Red […]
Long Tones: The Pursuit of a Life in Music 