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Franz Schubert
Schubert’s Finale The last 18 months of Schubert’s tragically short life saw the completion of a majority of his finest works including Winterreise, the Impromptus and Moments Musicals, the last three piano sonatas, the Piano Trios, the E flat Mass, the Great C major Symphony, the Shepherd on the Rock and the String Quintet. Like…
Gustav Holst
Vaughan Williams and Holst Two great friends who pioneered a new English style with varying success. Not just the composers of Greensleeves and the Planets, Vaughan Williams and Holst followed Elgar’s lead as two of the standard bearers of the English Musical Renaissance. Both were from Gloucestershire but they met as students at the Royal…
Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi and Venice This study was part of a longer course studying the history and culture of Venice. I started with an outline of Vivaldi’s life and career giving musical examples of his operas, choral works and concerti. The afternoon was spent with a more detailed analysis of the Seasons and a full examination of…
Viola Sonata
Viola players often complain that there is not enough music for them. Perhaps they would like to try this. First movement Viola sonata I First movement Second movement Viola sonata II Second movement Third movement Viola sonata III Third movement If you would like free copies of the sheet music for this work please contact…
Max Bruch
Brahms and Bruch This was a comparative study of the two greatest German instrumental and choral composers of their day whose reputations have not fared equally well. Johannes Brahms and Max Bruch were two of the most celebrated composers in late nineteenth century Germany. Bruch predicted that his fame would fade as Brahms’s grew. Although…
Alexander Borodin
The Mighty Handful The lives and music of Balakirev, Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov examining how they came together and how their careers overlapped. In 1867 the critic Stasov wrote a review of the Pan-Slav concert organised by Mily Balakirev: “God grant that our Slavonic guests may never forget today’s concert; God grant that they…
