A Gert History of Music
Berlioz and Paganini
In the late 1820s/early 1830s, the biggest star in the musical firmament was Niccolò Paganini, best known for his mastery of the violin but who was equally accomplished on viola and guitar. Paganini, like Liszt, had come to Paris for an extended tour and had attended a concert of the Symphonie Fantastique in 1833. Paganini,…
A Night at the Opera
Satie’s Parade, Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias, and Ravel’s L’Infant et les Sortileges had their premiere at the Metropolitan Opera as a remarkable triple bill (sets by David Hockney!) in 1981. Seated at the rear of the orchestra section in Row AA was your truly, surrounded by many of the great and the good of…
Romantic Music I: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
And so we begin with Hector Berlioz, the original tortured Romantic in an era that was full of them. Musicologists routinely talk about the “Three Bs”—Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. But for me, the third “B” has been and always will be Berlioz. And I’m not alone: The original phrase, coined in the 1850s, specifically included…
A Brief (and Wholly Inadequate) Introduction to Romantic Music
When did the Romantic Period in music begin? The generally accepted date is 1830, including by scholars who proclaim Schubert, who died in 1828, to be a Romantic composer. The fact is that while we like to assign firm demarcation points, music, like life, evolves naturally, at fits and starts. There is ultimately no correct…
Virtuosity
Before diving into the Romantic Period, it is important to take stock of how the music world had changed over the last two centuries. Through much of music history to this point, the Church had been the primary benefactor of the great composers. As the Church’s influence began to wane, particularly in the German States,…
Classical Music VI: Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840)
The legendary violinist Niccolo Paganini was not a great composer. He was, unquestionably, the greatest violinist and performer of his age (and, perhaps, any age). Paganini pushed the boundaries of what was possible and composed works that pushed what is technically possible on a violin to its absolute limit. It is also worth noting that…
Schubert, Unfinished
It is the stuff of legend. A dusty manuscript lies hidden in a desk draw of Anselm Huttenbrenner, a minor composer, for 43 years. In a letter to conductor Johann von Herbeck, Huttenbrenner describes it as his most prized treasure. One look at the score and von Herbeck is convinced and gives the music its…
The Most Terrible Trill in All of Music
Schubert’s late works are filled with sorrow and grief. They are portraits of loneliness, regret and despair. For all the anger and chaos that fills Beethoven’s late works, you cannot help but feel buoyed by the great man’s inherent faith in mankind. Schubert offers no such respite. He is the composer who drives me to…
The Genius that Lies Within: Schubert’s Mass in E Flat Major
Beethoven’s funeral took place in 1827 at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche in Vienna and Schubert was one of his torchbearers. Despite living his entire life in the same city, this is perhaps the closest the two great composers had ever been. Following the service, the Dreifaltigkeitskirche’s Society for the Cultivation of Church Music approached Schubert to compose…
The Great(est) Symphony
‘I was utterly enraptured and only wished that you were my wife and that I could also write such symphonies.’ Robert Schumann (to Clara, who would soon be his wife) One of the many works that Schubert left for posterity on his deathbed was the finished score for a symphony in C. It was discovered…
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A Gertus History of Music 