Ann Wyeth McCoy A Christmas Fantasy Program Notes A young Ann Wyeth composed this piece and, aged 19, entered it in a competition for young composers held by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was premiered the next December, conducted by music director Leopold Stokowski. Ann’s father N.C. Wyeth first came from Read more…
César Franck Symphony in D Program Notes Cesar Franck was born in the French-speaking part of Belgium. The young Franck exhibited great talent in early studies at the Liege Conservatory, so his father, a clerk, moved the family to Paris to enable his piano, organ and composition studies at the Paris Read more…
Carl Busch Minniehah’s Vision Program Notes Taught by two of its founders, Nils Gade and Johan Hartmann, Carl Busch attended the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He would have known Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), three years his junior. After additional studies (Brussels and Paris), Busch moved to the United Read more…
Brahms Symphony No. 2 Program Notes Johannes Brahms was a child of Hamburg, growing up near the great shipping port of Northern German. He maintained a lifelong fascination with shipping schedules, and other organizational minutiae. Following the path advised by his ill-fated mentor, Robert Schumann, he wound up in Read more…
Brahms Symphony No. 1 Program Notes The genius of Johannes Brahms was kept quiet for years because Brahms felt he could never live up to Beethoven’s high stature. He offered the excuse, “You can’t have any idea what it’s like always to hear such a giant marching behind you,” but Read more…
Brahms Academic Festival Overture Program Notes Coming from a fairly lower class, working musician family in the less-trendy side of Hamburg, the young pianist Johannes Brahms was unlikely to attend University. However, his duo-partner, the violinist Joseph Joachim, invited Brahms into University life, over a couple of summer months in Read more…
Borodin Polovtsian Dances Program Notes Alexander Borodin, on the way to becoming the author of more than 40 scientific publications, was told by his chemistry professor that he should think less about music: “You can’t hunt two hares at the same time.” We are lucky that his professor was wrong, although Read more…
Bizet L’Arlésienne Program Notes Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne was a short story by Alphonse Daudet, included in his 1869 collection Letters From My Windmill, which depicts life in Southern France. In the story, Jan, a young man from the village, has fallen in love with a woman from the larger, coastal Read more…
Berlioz Symphony Fantastique Program Notes Born: December 11, 1803, La Côte-Saint-André, France. Died: March 8, 1869, Paris, France. As a young composer, virtually unknown outside the music field, Hector Berlioz fell head-over-heels in love with the Irish actress Harriet Smithson, who he had never met. He wrote her Read more…
Bellini I Capuleti e i Montecchi Program Notes Bellini is one of the greatest composers in the bel canto operatic style (literally, beautiful singing), alongside Donizetti and Rossini. Bellini’s Norma, I Puritani, La Sonnambula and the present I Capuleti e i Montecchi remain frequently performed. With long melodic Read more…