The Classical Music Minute

Send us Fan Mail Description Igor Stravinsky was a huge proponent of Neoclassicism in music—much to the shock and dismay of some listeners and critics. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Igor Stravinsky - Octet for Wind Instruments [With score] ℅ YouTube Fun Fact A pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in his native St. Petersburg, Stravinsky had inherited the style of the Russian nationalist group, th...

Send us Fan Mail Description What was Neoclassicism in music? And which composers utilized this aesthetic form? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 (1917) is sometimes cited as a precursor of Neoclassicism. Prokofiev himself thought that his composition was a "passing phase" whereas Stravinsky's neoclassicism was by the 1920s "becomin...

Send us Fan Mail Description The tale of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45 in F♯ minor, known as the "Farewell" Symphony was told in Haydn’s later life to his biographers Albert Christoph Dies and Georg August Griesinger. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45 , The "Farewell" Symphony ℅ YouTube Fun Fact The symphony could not be perfor...

Send us Fan Mail Description In my past episode about Frederick The Great, I mentioned Sturm und Drang aka "storm and stress". This movement occurred in German literature and music between the late 1760s and early 1780s. It was a style of composition that evoked emotions of stress, fear, horror and anxiety. Take a minute to get the scoop! Listen to: Mozart's Symphony No. 25 (the &qu...

Send us Fan Mail Description King Frederick II of Prussia aka Frederick The Great was passionate about music. He particularly loved to play the flute, which he initially learned in secret due to his father being a straight-laced military man. Take a minute to get the scoop! Check out Friedrich II - Concerto For Flute, Strings & Continuo No.1 in G major 1st Movement - Allegro, c/o YouTube Fun F...

Send us Fan Mail Description Some thought that the virtuoso violinist Paganini was a metaphorical musical God, others thought he literally got his virtuosity from a deal with the Devil. But what was the real story behind Niccolò Paganini’s genius? Take a minute to get the scoop! Check out the trailer for The Devil's Violinist Fun Fact Known particularly for his fiendish 24 Caprices for Solo V...

Send us Fan Mail Description Nowadays, ‘Für Elise’ is undoubtedly one of Beethoven’s most famous works. It seems almost strange then that, at the time it was composed, the piece was relatively incidental. It certainly didn’t provoke much of a reaction and apparently, Beethoven himself was never fully satisfied with the work, returning to it some years later and trying, unsuccessfully in his eyes,...

Send us Fan Mail Description Johann Strauss Jr. found the perfect formula for engaging with the masses. He made a killing money-wise and was considered the biggest pop star of his time. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Strauss Jr. had a passion for accumulating an awe-inspiring array of medals, decorations and honours from the world’s sovereigns. As such, the titles and dedicatees of his c...

Send us Fan Mail Description This year marks the 40th anniversary of the compact disk. It’s worth giving a nod to this period in our music recording history because for many of us it was a brave new world. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact A BBC programme called Tomorrow’s World introduced British audiences to the CD in 1981 – the presenter Kieran Prendiville was skeptical about “whether th...

Send us Fan Mail Description The world of trailer music evolved composer Kati Falk-Flores ’ skills beyond her classical training into writing the larger-than-life, cinematic music needed for the promotion of Hollywood’s biggest films. From the heartwarming piece used for advertising Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns to the dark exploration of humanity used for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Kati’s music...

Send us Fan Mail Description Blessed with good looks, but bad teeth, Franz Liszt had a number of vices, including cigars and cognac. All of which he would indulge in to excess. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Liszt was quite the rock star of his time. They called it “Lisztomania” – women would faint and go into a frenzy when he performed, so much so that local doctors thought it was an ep...

Send us Fan Mail Description Anton Bruckner was extremely critical of his own work and often reworked his compositions. One such perplexity was his Symphony No. 0. Or was it? Take a minute to get the scoop! Check out Bruckner's Symphony in D minor ℅ Frankfurt Radio Symphony | Paavo Järvi (YouTube) Fun Fact Unlike other musical radicals such as Richard Wagner and Hugo Wolf, Bruckner showed ext...

Send us Fan Mail Description In defence of Ukraine and its cultural heritage, Keri-Lynn Wilson is leading the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra on its inaugural tour of Europe and America. Composed of leading Ukrainian musicians from both inside and outside of Ukraine, the orchestra was created by Ms. Wilson with support from the governments of Ukraine and Poland and the Metropolitan Opera and the Polis...

Send us Fan Mail Description "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), commonly abbreviated "Der Hölle Rache", is an aria sung by the Queen of the Night, a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). But who are some of the sopranos who successfully tackled this feat o...

Send us Fan Mail Description For this bonus interview episode, I chat with Canadian Media Composer, Maria Molinari. Trained as a classical guitarist, Maria Molinari began her composing career writing concert music for soloists, chamber groups, ballet and orchestras until her love of film, storytelling & collaboration drew her to film scoring. Maria recently composed the score for the bold crit...

Send us Fan Mail Description The ‘Queen of the Night’ aria, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), is a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact The story is a mixture of fun and high ideals, of Masonic philosophy and high jinx, of...

Send us Fan Mail Description Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547) excelled at languages, literature, theology, sport and, famously, music. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact In 1515, May Day was celebrated at Greenwich with all kinds of music, including, according to this description, a mix of natural and ‘made’ music: ‘In the wood were bowers filled purposely with singing birds which car...

Send us Fan Mail Description For this bonus interview episode, I chatted with world-renowned theremin player Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin). She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, Otto Lechner and Simone Dinnerstein, and was instrumental in the final design of Robert Moog&ap...

Send us Fan Mail Description Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact During the late 1940s, Copland became aware that Stravinsky and other fellow composers had begun to study Arnold Schoenberg's use of twelve-tone (serial) techniques. After he had been exposed to th...

Send us Fan Mail Description The lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687 – 1750) was one of the most prolific composers of the lute in history and was the virtuoso lutenist of his day. He was a contemporary of J.S. Bach and even competed with him in improvisation. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. Ba...

Send us Fan Mail Description The aria Nessun dorma is one of the most famous in all of operatic history and has been sung by an array of fantastic tenors—each adding their own unique technical and expressive prowess. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact "Nessun dorma", "Let no one sleep" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot and one of the b...

Send us Fan Mail Description I wanted to do a special two-part episode on the famous aria Nessun dorma. First the plot and lead up to the aria itself. Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Although "Nessun dorma" had long been a staple of operatic recitals, Luciano Pavarotti popularized the piece beyond the opera world in the 1990s following his performance of it for the 1990 World Cu...

Send us Fan Mail Description Need a quick refresher on the plot of Verdi’s Rigoletto? Take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Rigoletto premiered on 11 March 1851 in a sold-out La Fenice as the first part of a double bill with Giacomo Panizza's ballet Faust. The opening night was a complete triumph, especially the scena drammatica and the Duke's cynical aria, "La donna è mobile&quo...

Send us Fan Mail Description Occasionally, I am going to release a bonus interview episode for your listening pleasure. For this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Bekah Simms who is the outgoing General Manager for the Canadian League of Composers . She is also a truly innovative composer in her own right. We chatted all about the League as well as Bekah’s compositional process and what...

Send us Fan Mail Description Medieval Western European music encompassed sacred and secular genres in the Middle Ages, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. It spans centuries and is worth considering as an integral part of our musical development.  Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop! Fun Fact Hildegard von Bingen was a rare Medieval female composer. Also kn...