The Classical Music Minute

Send us Fan Mail Description Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel is considered by many to be a true masterpiece.  Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Diaghilev had originally intended Daphnis et Chloé to form the centrepiece of the 1910 season, and although the first piano draft was ready by the beginning of May, this was already far too late, leaving the door wide open for Igor Stravinsky to s...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Rite of Spring composed by Igor Stravinsky premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on May 29, 1913—it created quite an uproar with the audience claiming that Stravinsky was no composer but a madman. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Like Stravinsky’s earlier works for the Ballet Russes, The Rite of Spring was inspired by Russian culture, but, un...

Send us Fan Mail Description Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16, were composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1909 much to the dismay of British audiences of the time. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Even Arnold Schoenberg admitted in his letters to Richard Strauss: “The greatest difficulty in performing these pieces is that...it is really impossible to read the score. It would be almost imperati...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Planets, Op. 32, by Gustav Holst, was written after a holiday in Spain that sparked an acute interest in astrology. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The first movement of The Planets to be written was Mars in mid-1914, followed by Venus and Jupiter in the latter part of the year, Saturn and Uranus in mid-1915, Neptune later in 1915 and Mercury in early 1916...

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I chat with author Patrick Mackie about his book, “Mozart In Motion: His Work And His World In Pieces”. This biography is a fabulous deep-dive into Mozart—his inner psychology as both performer and composer and how he interacts with external forces such as society and family. To order a copy of the book please visit the publisher . Patrick Mackie is a poet whose work ha...

Send us Fan Mail Description Peter and the Wolf Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", was written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936, as a means of introducing children to the instruments of the orchestra.  Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Typically, prior to a performance of Peter and the Wolf, the instruments are shown to the children in the audience, so that they may become...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Carnival of the Animals (Le Carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by Camille Saint-Saëns. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The first public performance of The Carnival of the Animals was given on 25 February 1922 by the Concerts Colonne, conducted by Gabriel Pierné. It was rapturously received. Le Figaro reported: “We canno...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, aka The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Henry Purcell, Op. 34, was written by British composer Benjamin Britten. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact In the last portion of the work, Britten combines all the sections of the orchestra in an intricate fugue on a new, dancelike theme...

Send us Fan Mail Description Chopin’s Nocturnes were brief piano works that were inspired by the night. The Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9, No. 2, was written when Chopin was only 20. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Nocturne, Op. 9: No. 2 in E Major, Andante Transcr. for Violin and Piano by A. Schulz Alessandro Clerici, violin Elena Brunello, piano Fun Fact The Nocturnes, Op. 9 are a s...

Send us Fan Mail Description Samuel Osmond Barber II was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator. He’s also considered one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. One of his best known works is Adagio for Strings. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: The Dover Quartet plays the masterpiece by Samuel Barber in its original form, from the composer&a...

Send us Fan Mail Description Grieg was first approached by the playwright Henrik Ibsen in Italy, 1866. Ibsen asked if Grieg could write incidental music for his drama Peer Gynt. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Grieg’s music for Peer Gynt is usually heard in the form of two orchestral suites (Op. 46 and Op. 55), each featuring four movements selected from his score. The best-known movement...

Send us Fan Mail Description What was the genesis of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, one of the most frequently performed choral work of the 21st century? Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Carl Orff - Carmina Burana | Cristian Măcelaru | WDR Symphony Orchestra | WDR Radio Choir Fun Fact Of the 315 profane songs contained in the Codex Buranus, Orff chose just 24, organising them into five sect...

Send us Fan Mail Description The trombone has a long history, said to have been created in the middle of the 15th century. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice: 'Beata es virgo' a6 - English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble ℅ YouTube Fun Fact The sackbut was used extensively across Europe, from its appearance in the 15th century to a decline in most places b...

Send us Fan Mail Description On 21 October 1898, Edward Elgar returned to his wife and their home in Malvern after a long day teaching. He finished dinner, lit a cigar and sat down at the piano to doodle.  Hence his Enigma Variations was born. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Edward Elgar - Enigma Variations, Op.36: IX. (Nimrod) Queensland Symphony Orchestra ℅ YouTube Fun Fact The first...

Send us Fan Mail Description Elgar composed the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in 1901 as part of a series of five marches. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact At its publication the march was dedicated to English conductor A.E. Rodewald and the Liverpool Orchestral Society, who gave the first performance. The piece was an immediate success; at the London premiere later that year the audie...

Send us Fan Mail Description Moonlight Sonata aka Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, was completed in 1801, published the following year, and premiered by the composer himself, whose hearing was still adequate but already deteriorating at the time. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The subtitle—“Sonata in the manner of a fantasia”—reminds listeners that the piece, although technically a...

Send us Fan Mail Description Ravel had long toyed with the idea of building a composition from a single theme which would grow simply through harmonic and instrumental ingenuity. And thus was born, Boléro. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Boléro was given its first performance at the Paris Opéra on November 20, 1928. The premiere was acclaimed by a shouting, stamping, cheering audience in...

Send us Fan Mail Description Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67, became a standard against which many other symphonies were measured. It is best known by the ominous four-note opening motif. Take a minute to get the scoop! Just for fun you may want to check out: The Vienna boys choir, On the Beautiful Blue Danube 🎶 Fun Fact In the mid-1970s, American musician Walter Murphy released “A...

Send us Fan Mail Description The Blue Danube is the most famous waltz ever written. It is considered Austria’s second national anthem. Take a minute to get the scoop! Just for fun you may want to check out: The Vienna boys choir, On the Beautiful Blue Danube 🎶 Fun Fact The Blue Danube premiered in the United States in its instrumental version on 1 July 1867 in New York, and in the UK in its chora...

Send us Fan Mail Description Eine kleine Nachtmusik or “A Little Night Music” aka Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K 525, is admired for its lively, joyful quality and memorable melodies. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The four-movement work opens with a bright allegro in sonata form, and a slow, lyrical second movement follows. The third movement is a light minuet, and the finale is a brisk...

Send us Fan Mail Description Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is considered one of his greatest masterpieces. Why then, did he not appreciate the accolades that came with its success? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact That infamous assessment of it as “very loud and noisy and completely without artistic merit, obviously written without warmth or love,” was penned by Tchaikovsky himself. The over...

Send us Fan Mail Description Handel's Water Music was composed around 1717 and first performed after George I requested a concert on the River Thames. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The first performance of the Water Music is recorded in The Daily Courant, the first British daily newspaper. At about 8 p.m. on Wednesday, 17 July 1717, King George I and several aristocrats boarded a r...

Send us Fan Mail Description It may not be to everyone’s taste, yet Pachelbel’s Canon in D is one of the most famous pieces of classical music of all time. Take a minute to get the scoop! Take a listen to: Canon and Gigue for Three Violins and Continuo in D Major: Canon · Jean-François Paillard c/o YouTube Fun Fact Pachelbel wrote more than 500 pieces over his lifetime. He was a prolific organist...

Send us Fan Mail Description To celebrate the 100th episode of this podcast, I thought we could travel back in time to the dynamic public concerts of London’s Hanover Square Rooms during the early 1790s and the presentation of Joseph Haydn’s Military Symphony No 100 in G Major. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact At the time, Joseph Haydn was taking the city by storm, conducting his final twe...

Send us Fan Mail Description At first glance, Mozart’s piano music may look simple. Yet for many pianists, the music’s greatest challenge lies in that seeming simplicity.  Take a minute to get the scoop! Take a listen: Mozart Piano Sonata No 16 C major K 545 Barenboim c/o YouTube Fun Fact Another challenge for the pianist is Mozart’s complete mastery of orchestration. Many of the piano sonatas hav...