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# **Handel - Arianna in Creta - Nicholas McGegan** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-arianna-146974237?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-arianna-146974237?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) Composed by **George Frideric Handel** and premiered in London in **1734**, *Arianna in Creta* retells the ancient myth of **Ariadne and Theseus**, but reshapes…

# **Handel - Acis & Galatea (arr. Felix Mendelssohn) - Stephen Darlington ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-acis-arr-146839510?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-acis-arr-146839510?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) **1. Handel’s Original Work (1718): A Pastoral Masque** **Acis and Galatea** was composed in **1718** for the Duke of Chandos…

# **Igor Stravinsky: A Supreme Composer, a Limited Conductor** Few figures in twentieth-century music command admiration as universal as **Igor Stravinsky**. As a composer, he reshaped the language of modern music several times over—first…

# **HUGO WOLF — A LIFE IN 20 CHAPTERS** **Chapter 1 — Origins in Windischgrätz (1860–1868)** Hugo Wolf was born on **13 March 1860** in Windischgrätz, a small provincial town in what was then…

# **Haydn - Symphonies Nos. 62 - 107 - 108 - Toronto Chamber Orchestra - Kevin Mallon ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/haydn-symphonies-146487956?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/haydn-symphonies-146487956?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) ## **Symphony No. 62 in D major, Hob. I:62 (c. 1780)** Symphony No. 62 dates…

# **Joseph Haydn: Born into Humble Origins** **Joseph Haydn** was born on **31 March 1732** in the small village of **Rohrau**, near the Hungarian border of Lower Austria. His beginnings were strikingly modest, especially…

# **Astrid Varnay (1918–2006): A Voice Born into Destiny** **Astrid Varnay** was not merely a great Wagnerian soprano; she was **a phenomenon shaped by fate, circumstance, and fearless intelligence**. Few singers in operatic history…

# **Mozart and His Family: Love, Control, and the Cost of Genius ** The **family relationships of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart** were deep, complex, and decisive for his personal and artistic development. Far from being…

# **Mozart’s Poverty at the Time of His Greatest Achievements** One of the most persistent misunderstandings about Mozart’s life is the belief that his financial difficulties were the result of failure, neglect, or declining…

# **Mozart: The Composer Who Loved the Vulgar** Mozart’s private correspondence—especially the letters exchanged with his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart (“Bäsle”) and with close family members—is saturated with scatological humor, wordplay, and deliberate…

# **Schubertian melody: emotion made into time ** The **single defining characteristic that places Franz Schubert above any other composer in that specific realm** is **his uniquely natural ability to transform inner emotional experience…

Lilli Lehmann — Intellectual Classicism Lilli Lehmann, singing Norma in the late 19th century, approached the role with Wagnerian discipline and intellectual rigor. Her Norma was controlled, statuesque, and dignified, emphasizing structure over emotional…

# **Why Beethoven Is the Most Loved Composer in History — Even More Than Bach and Mozart** To say that **Beethoven is the most loved composer in history** does not mean denying the incomparable…

# **Mozart Seen by the Great Composers** When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in December 1791, the world did not yet understand what it had lost. His contemporaries admired him, yes, but the depth of…

# **Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, Rudolf Bing ** Metropolitan Opera audiences began an extraordinary love affair with American soprano Leontyne Price immediately upon her debut on January 27, 1961 Price was a known entity…

# **Conductor (and flutist) Nicholas McGegan fell in love with opera as a kid.** *It came by way of a newfangled record player and one heavenly Mozart recording: * **Herbert von Karajan's recording of…

# **Anecdotes and Curiosities from the Life of Paul Kletzki** ## **1. The boy who memorized orchestral scores before he could shave** In Łódź, musicians would give the teenage Kletzki orchestral parts to test…

# **Handel - Saul - Oratorio - 1739 - Laurence Cummings ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-saul-145465444?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-saul-145465444?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) ## **I. The Genesis of a Revolutionary Oratorio (1738–1739)** When **George Frideric Handel** began work on *Saul* in the summer of…

# **Is Telemann Really the Most Prolific Composer in the History of Classical Music?** The short answer is: **Yes… almost certainly, though with important nuances.** And the long answer shows why Telemann occupies a…

# **The Psychological Profile of Baroque Music Lovers — And a Narrative Guide to Its Music for Every Emotional State** Lovers of Baroque music form one of the most distinctive psychological communities in the…

# **The Psychological Profile of Bach Lovers — And a Narrative Guide to His Music for Every Emotional State ** **People who are drawn with special intensity to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach…

# **The Psychological Profile of Haydn Lovers — And a Narrative Guide to His Music for Every Emotional State** Lovers of Joseph Haydn form a unique psychological group within the world of classical-music listeners.…

# **The Psychological Profile of Schubert Lovers — And a Narrative Guide to His Music for Every Emotional State** People who feel a deep connection to Schubert often possess one of the most distinctive…

# **The Psychological Profile of Beethoven Lovers — And a Narrative Guide to Beethoven’s Music for Every Emotional State** People who feel a deep, lifelong connection to Beethoven often share a distinct psychological profile—one…