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Happy Birthday to America’s March King
The great late nineteenth/early twentieth century American composer and band leader, John Philip Sousa, was born in Washington D.C., on November 6, 1854. John Philip Sousa, lived in the late Romantic era from 1854 – 1932. Sousa was a valuable treasure to the military, and to the patriotic fervor of the USA with his brilliant […]
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Scotch Treats
There are three great classical music pieces from two classical music composers that come to mind when the country Scotland is mentioned. Both composers of those three pieces are ironically German composers in the Romantic Era of music. Felix Mendelssohn [1809 – 1847] Felix Mendelssohn had two pieces with a Scottish flavor, his Symphony #3 in […]
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Mozart’s Pensive Adagio
One of my favorite movements from Mozart’s piano concerti is the adagio movement from his 23rd piano concerto. The second movement of this Mozart concerto, while somewhat sad and thoughtful, is nevertheless very peaceful and beautiful. This concerto is in A Major, a key which usually foretells a bright happy mood…and that is true for the […]
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Mendelssohn Piano Excitement
My favorite of all the classical music genres is the piano concerto, especially when you have one as exciting as the Mendelssohn concerto in G-minor. I remember my daughter’s classical piano teacher saying that a concerto was like a contest-the soloist vs. the orchestra. In Mendelssohn’s 1st piano concerto there is no doubt who wins […]
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Simply Genius
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the quintessential classical composer, along with Ludwig Van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach, are my top three favorite composers. Mozart, in my opinion, could make more with an uncomplicated theme or idea than any other composer. The musical idea may at first sound simple without much substance but the genius Mozart could […]
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Antonin Dvorak – The Great Czech, Mate
One of my favorite composers is the great Czech Romantic composer, Antonin Dvorak [last name pronounced di-Vore-zshack]. While Bedrich Smetana is called the father of Czech music, Dvorak, born in 1841, is widely recognized as the greatest Czech composer. Dvorak was a prolific composer of many genres in the classical music repertoire, including symphonies, Slavonic […]
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D’Albert’s Exquisite Cello Concerto
This is from a post I did in 2019 on an old blog site I had. As many of you know, I am no professional in classical music and I am certainly no expert in classical music. I am just a fan of classical music and I have become so late in my life. In […]