jacqueline du pre

A love for cello | CBW 28

oana July 14, 2019 No Comments
2. String Quartet in G major, op. 76 no. 1 by Joseph Haydn

Father of the Symphony, Father of the String Quartet, friend and mentor of Mozart, tutor of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn was an Austrian Classical composer too grand for words. Prolific does not even begin to describe his career: the man wrote over one hundred symphonies and 83 string quartets, 150 baryton duos and trios, over 40 piano trios (the development of which he also fathered), numerous concertos, trios and duos for various instruments, marches, dances, sonatas, 15 masses, a handful of songs, 13 operas and other musical comedies.… Read more

Ethel_Smyth

Ethel Smith | CBW 27

oana July 7, 2019 No Comments
Trio for piano, violin and cello in D minor by Ethel Smith

What do you do when your work is characterized as lacking feminine charm if it is too powerful and energetic, but less than the artistic standard of your male colleagues if it’s delicate and melodious? You get involved in the suffrage movement, you compose its anthem and even spend two months in jail for the cause (albeit, after doing some private property damage).… Read more

More Strings | CBW12

oana March 24, 2019 No Comments
Honourable mention: “Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti” by Claudio Monteverdi

We start the week with a comical work, a madrigal by Claudio Monteverdi set after a poem by Ottavio Rinuccini, an Italian 16th century poet considered to be the first opera librettist. In this sonnet we hear a plea to Zephyrus, the bringer of spring in Greek mythology, to come and enliven the air, the branches, the mountains and valleys, everything around our hero who goes back and forth between singing and crying, being tormented by love .… Read more