The Classical Music Minute

Send us Fan Mail Description ‘Tis the season for some great music, including Handel’s Messiah! What were the origins of this fantastic work? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Handel composed Messiah in just 24 days without getting much sleep and or eating much food. While writing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus Handel’s servant discovered him with tears in his eyes, and he exclaimed, “I did think I...

Send us Fan Mail Description Have you heard of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, one of the first classical composers of African heritage to attain widespread acclaim in European music? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact In early 1776, the financially troubled Paris Opéra considered Chevalier de Saint-Georges as its new director. Despite his merit as the creator of the first disciplined French...

Send us Fan Mail Description Did you know that Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, was truly passionate about the harp? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact When Marie Antoinette arrived in Paris in 1770, the harp was already a relatively widespread instrument in Paris. However, her unwavering passion for the instrument was partially responsible for inspiring a veritable harp craze. __...

Send us Fan Mail Description The musicians of the Titanic all died when the ship sank in 1912. They played music, intending to calm the passengers, for as long as they possibly could. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact There are no indications that the Titanic’s band members ever attempted to save themselves, and all of them died in the sinking. Most people regard them as musical heroes, who...

Send us Fan Mail Description Did you know that Richard Strauss came from a very musical family, his father being both a composer and horn player. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Strauss's first horn concerto was premiered, with the composer playing the horn part, in 1865 and he remained greatly in demand as a soloist. The conductor Hans von Bülow called him "the Joachim of the h...

Send us Fan Mail Description Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky is now one of the most popular ballets of all time. It’s remarkable, then, that when Swan Lake premiered in 1877, the reception was lukewarm at best. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact When most of us think about Tchaikovsky, we think of his ballets — Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, the latter as ubiquitous at Christmas...

Send us Fan Mail Description Did you know that Chopin also had a talented older sister who not only composed, but was a professional writer, too? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Frédéric’s health had never been good, and it deteriorated especially markedly in the late 1840s. For two months, she nursed her beloved brother in his final illness, a task that must have been overwhelmingly diff...

Send us Fan Mail Description Well, it’s nearly Halloween 🎃 and there are many works of music that depict the spookiness, darkness and morbidity of this annual tradition. 😱 But one jumps out at me, Danse macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Like all great music, this work was imitated by many over the years. The re-tuning of the violin for the tri-tone interval...

Send us Fan Mail Description The young virtuoso, Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl, was quickly overshadowed by her brother, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, five years her junior. But she was nonetheless a child prodigy. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact As a trusted friend, family member and intimate music-making partner, Nannerl could have been exactly what Wolfgang needed to make the leap fr...

Send us Fan Mail Description Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major was composed in the summer of 1777, for his colleague the oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis. But shortly after that, went missing. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Composed when Mozart was twenty-one, this oboe concerto is a delightful, untroubled, and relatively straightforward composition, cast in the usual three movements. The...

Send us Fan Mail Description Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1941. She is a pianist [and one of my favourites] known for her recordings and performances of chamber music, particularly works by Messiaen, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff. Take a minute to get the scoop! Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No 1, Martha Argerich Filmed at the La Roque d'Anthéron festival on July 29th, 200...

Send us Fan Mail Description With the passing of Dame Angela Lansbury in 2022, it reminded me of one of my favourite Sondeim musicals, Sweeney Todd. She played the first Mrs Lovett in 1979. Take a minute to get the scoop! Dame Angela Lansbury singing The Worst Pies in London . Fun Fact The original production of Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway March 1, 1979, at the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin)....

Send us Fan Mail Description Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away on March 28, 2023. He was a Japanese composer, pianist, record producer, and actor who pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Ryuichi Sakamoto was born on January 17, 1952, in Tokyo. His father, Kazuki Sakamoto, was a well-known literary ed...

Send us Fan Mail Description There is little doubt that Mozart was a genius. But what was extraordinary was his abilities from such a young age. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and his sister Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian...

Send us Fan Mail It was my privilege to be joined for this episode by acclaimed Canadian Composer and Pianist, Frank Horvat to discuss his own journey with mental illness; the effects it's had on him personally, as well as professionally; and now his advocacy work reaching out to young musicians to discuss their own struggles. Over the centuries, many of the composers that we know all too wel...

Send us Fan Mail Description Jean Sibelius was thought to be a hero of Finland, as his music reflected the struggle of the people against the Russian Empire. This is most evident in his work, Finlandia.  Take a minute to get the scoop! An incredible performance of Finlandia, op. 26 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan . c/o YouTube Fun Fact Sibelius later reworke...

Send us Fan Mail Description Rather than just disappearing for a few weeks—I thought I'd let you know that I am taking a rest until mid-September.  Enjoy the rest of the summer! Fun Fact When Steven isn't recording podcast episodes, he is auditioning for tv commercials and series/film or feeding his cats milk. 🐱 __________________________________________________________________ About St...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Barber of Seville is an opera by Rossini and ‘perhaps the greatest of all comic operas’.  Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Rossini's Barber of Seville is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". ____________________________________________________...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach certainly got off to a rocky start—with the death of the composer before its premiere and then disaster striking its first Vienna performance. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The Royal Family of Austria arrived at the theatre as the disaster was ending and immediately began collecting relief funds for the victims and...

Send us Fan Mail I am so pleased to announce the winner of our draw to receive a copy of "The Real Mozart: The Original King Of Pop". If you didn't catch my interview with author Judith Grohmann, please check it out HERE . __________________________________________________________________ About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his mus...

Send us Fan Mail Description Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, originally titled ‘Six concertos for several instruments’, were composed for the Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg—yet were never performed in Brandenburg. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Each concerto was written for a different combination of instruments and demonstrates a musical style that was popular in Bach’s lifetime...

Send us Fan Mail Description Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, known as the Unfinished Symphony, has always been mired in mystery as to why it was never completed by the composer. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Third & fourth movements: The fragment of the scherzo intended as the third movement returns to the tonic B minor, with a G major trio. The first 30 measures are preserved in f...

Send us Fan Mail Description Bruckner’s third symphony did not make the splash that he had hoped. Many factors came into play to cause a complete flop of a premier. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Stunned by this debacle, Bruckner made several revisions of his work, leaving out significant amounts of music including most quotations from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre. Th...

Send us Fan Mail Description Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is one where the composer began to contemplate his own mortality. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Bruno Walter, who conducted the work’s posthumous premiere on June 26, 1912, with the Vienna Philharmonic, had never seen the score of the Ninth during Mahler’s lifetime; he only received it when Mahler’s widow Alma approached him ab...

Send us Fan Mail Recently, I chatted with author Judith Grohmann about her book, "The Real Mozart: The Original King Of Pop" . This biography dives headfirst into the psychological workings of Mozart, as he navigates the explosive times of Viennese society during the enlightenment; his romantic and familial relationships, especially with his father Leopold; as well as, balancing the mund...