Performers Edition Articles

Articles, analysis, and more on classical music.

  1. Obscure Music Monday: Schumann's Souvenir de Vienne

    Clara Schumann (Sept. 13, 1819 - May 20, 1896) was a German composer and pianist, born to musical parents in Leipzig. Her father was well-known throughout Leipzig, where he sold and repaired pianos, and gave piano lessons. She took lessons from him, and he also made sure she was educated in music theory, counterpoint, harmony, and composition. She had her first recital...
  2. Obscure Music Monday: Dragonetti's Twelve Waltzes, No. 1

    Domenico Carlo Maria Dragonetti (April 7, 1763 – April 16, 1846) was a double bass virtuoso and composer, born in Venice, Italy. He lived there for 30 years and worked at various opera houses before moving to London, England. There he played at the King's Theatre, and lived there the rest of his life. Dragonetti knew Joseph Haydn and Ludwig...
  3. Obscure Music Monday: Farrenc's Piano Quintet No. 1

    Louise Farrenc (May 31, 1804 - Sept. 15, 1875) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer. Born in Paris, she started the piano at an early age, and later on also showed a knack for composition. At the age of fifteen, her parents let her study composition with Anton Reicha at the Paris Conservatory. Later on she embarked upon a...
  4. Obscure Music Monday: Beach's By the Still Waters

    Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (Sept. 5, 1867 - December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist.  Extremely gifted from a young age, Beach's talents seemed to run in the family, with various members playing instruments or singing, and showing great aptitude for music. Beach was exceptionally talented, having learned 40 songs around the age of one, and at two...
  5. Obscure Music Monday: Coleridge-Taylor's Forest Scenes

    Samuel Colderidge-Taylor (Aug. 15, 1875 - Sept. 1, 1912) was born in London, England, to Alice Hare Martin, an English woman, and Dr. Daniel Peter Hughes Taylor, from Sierre Leone. They weren't married, and Daniel Taylor returned to Africa before 1875, unaware he had a son. Martin named her child after the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and was raised in Croydon...
  6. Obscure Music Monday: Menter's Petite Valse

    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...
  7. Obscure Music Monday: Holmès' Violon d'amour

    Augusta Holmès (Dec. 18, 1847 - Jan. 28 1903) was a pianist and composer, born in Paris, and of Irish descent. Despite showing great talent as a child, she wasn't allowed to take piano at the Paris Conservatory. Instead she took private piano lessons with Mademoiselle Peyrnnet, and later on, harmony and counterpoint with Henri Lambert, and composition lessons with Hyacinthe Klosé. Holmès became...
  8. Obscure Music Monday: Boulanger's Psalm 24 "La terre appartient à l'Éternel"

    Marie-Juliette Olga "Lili" Boulanger (Aug. 21, 1893 - March 15, 1918) was a French composer, and  the younger sister of the famed composition teacher/composer Nadia Boulanger. Born in Paris, Lili Boulanger was a child prodigy; at the age of two, it was discovered that she had perfect pitch. Her parents, both musicians, encouraged her musical education, and she accompanied her sister Nadia...
  9. Obscure Music Monday: Suk's Spring

    Josef Suk (Jan. 4, 1874 - May 29, 1935) was a Czech composer and violinist. He began his musical training at an early age, learning the violin, organ, and piano from his father. Suk went on to study composition at the Prague Conservatory, with his most famous teacher being Antonin Dvořák, and the two became close, trusted friends. Suk ended up marrying Dvořák's  daughter, Otilie...
  10. Obscure Music Monday: Bonis' Suite en Trio

    Mélanie Hélène Bonis, known as Mel Bonis, (Jan. 21, 1858 - March 18, 1937) was a French late Romantic composer. Bonis wrote an incredible amount of music for many genres. Bonis grew up in a strict Catholic household, and her parents did not encourage her musical interests, though she did teach herself the piano. When she was twelve, a professor...

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