Baton Music

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) was one of the three great composers of the belcanto-era that dominated the Italian opera scene in the first half of the 19th century. The other masters of 'beautiful sing...

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) was one of the three great composers of the belcanto-era that dominated the Italian opera scene in the first half of the 19th century. The other masters of 'beautiful sing...

Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi's romantic opera Il Trovatore lives by its streams of memorable melodies. One of those is the the 'Miserere' wich is placed in the fourth and final act. A chorus of monks begin...

Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi's romantic opera Il Trovatore lives by its streams of memorable melodies. One of those is the the 'Miserere' wich is placed in the fourth and final act. A chorus of monks begin...

Dvorak composed the great Czech national opera, Rusalka in a single burst of inspiration between April 21 and November 27, 1901, to a text by Jaroslav Kvapil based on Hans Christian Andersen. Rusalka...

Dvorak composed the great Czech national opera, Rusalka in a single burst of inspiration between April 21 and November 27, 1901, to a text by Jaroslav Kvapil based on Hans Christian Andersen. Rusalka...

The 1955 film of The Gadfly is no Soviet epic but rather a romantic history based on the novel by Ethel Voynich and set in fin de siecle Austria. Dmitri Shostakovich composed the Tarantella from The G...

The 1955 film of The Gadfly is no Soviet epic but rather a romantic history based on the novel by Ethel Voynich and set in fin de siecle Austria. Dmitri Shostakovich composed the Tarantella from The G...

Much of Schubert's songs do have a simple strophic character. These verses stand half-way between 'Art-song' and 'Folk-song'; the melody seems to be drawn from nature. Schubert marvellously achieved t...

Much of Schubert's songs do have a simple strophic character. These verses stand half-way between 'Art-song' and 'Folk-song'; the melody seems to be drawn from nature. Schubert marvellously achieved t...

After the performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto's for Oboe and Trombone and Military Band in 1876, the composer wrote: 'My third and last composition of this character is a Konzertstück for the C...

After the performances of Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto's for Oboe and Trombone and Military Band in 1876, the composer wrote: 'My third and last composition of this character is a Konzertstück for the C...

In 1883, a singer named Johanna Richter made a guest appearance in the court theater at Cassel, Germany, where Gustav Mahler was the conductor. As a result of this engagement she entered into a regula...

The name 'Pathetique' for the last of Pyotr Ilych Tschaikowsky's six symphonies was suggested by the composer's brother the day after its premiere in 1893. And indeed the 'Finale' of this symphony is...

(Concert Band)

The Ouverture Carnevalesca was performed in Bologna on April 19th of the same year (1913) as part of a ten-city tour. The piece was written shortly before the Sinfonia drammatica (1914) and Ottorino R...

The Ouverture Carnevalesca was performed in Bologna on April 19th of the same year (1913) as part of a ten-city tour. The piece was written shortly before the Sinfonia drammatica (1914) and Ottorino R...

From its first performance, Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel was a phenomenal succes, produces at over fifty theaters in its first year alone. This evergreen opera, based pon the Grimm...

From its first performance, Engelbert Humperdinck's opera Hänsel und Gretel was a phenomenal succes, produces at over fifty theaters in its first year alone. This evergreen opera, based pon the Grimm...

Leo Delibes opera Lakme was first performed in 1883, the year after Richard Wagner's Parsifal, but it comes from an entirely different world. It is a thoroughly conservative opera, constructed from se...

Leo Delibes opera Lakme was first performed in 1883, the year after Richard Wagner's Parsifal, but it comes from an entirely different world. It is a thoroughly conservative opera, constructed from se...

La Damnation de Faust was in the beginning a kind of oratorio, although Hector Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) called it himself a concert-opera. Due to his dramatic qualities the piece was also fitful for...

La Damnation de Faust was in the beginning a kind of oratorio, although Hector Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) called it himself a concert-opera. Due to his dramatic qualities the piece was also fitful for...

The African-American ragtime composer Scott Joplin composed his opera Treemonisha in 1910 but it was not performed in its entirety until 1970, when the piano score was rediscovered. The music of Treem...

Joaquin Turina (1882-1949) along with Granados, Albeniz and Manuel de Falla, was a defining voice in Spanish music. His music is typically very lyrical and deeply inspired by the rich musical heritage...