June 2021

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (April 5, 1869 - Aug. 23, 1937) was a French composer, who started his musical journey as an adult. As a child, Roussel was interested in mathematics, and then went went in to the French Navy. After resigning in 1894, he turned to music, and attended the Scholar Cantorum de Paris until 1908. He worked...

Sir Donald Francis Tovey (July 19, 1875 - July 10, 1940) was a British musicologist, composer, conductor, and pianist. He was privately tutored as a child, and showed great musical talent, which was nurtured under the guidance of Sophie Weisse, a music teacher from Scotland. Through her he met many musicians, and enjoyed a career as a pianist. Tovey secured...

Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (May 25, 1849 - June 14, 1908) was an African-American musical prodigy on the piano. Born on a plantation in Georgia, he was sold, along with his parents, in to slavery. Because he was blind, his owner, James Bethune, originally wanted to kill him, as he couldn't do much of the work he demanded slaves do, but eventually decided to let him play and explore the plantation he was on.  Continue reading →

Sophie Menter (July 29, 1846 - Feb. 23, 1918) was a German pianist and composer, born to musical parents. At the age of fifteen she soloed with an orchestra, and her concertizing after that took her all around Germany and Switzerland. Menter would go on to be known for her interpretations of Franz Liszt's compositions, and she actually studied with...