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# **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…

# **LEONTYNE PRICE — A LIFE ** ## **Chapter 1 — Origins in Laurel, Mississippi: A Childhood Shaped by Dignity, Faith, and Song (1927–1944)** Leontyne Price was born Mary Violet Leontyne Price on February…

# **NICHOLAS McGEGAN — A LIFE IN 20 CHAPTERS** *A narrative biography of one of the most influential Baroque conductors of our time* ## **Chapter 1 — Manchester Beginnings (1950)** Nicholas McGegan was born…

# **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…

# **PAUL KLETZKI — A PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT** *A narrative exploration of a conductor whose interpretations grew out of the deepest wounds and the deepest tenderness.* There are musicians whose art is shaped by talent,…

# **Laurence Cummings: A Narrative Portrait of a Modern Handelian Maestro** ## **I. A Conductor Formed by the Keyboard: Roots of a Baroque Interpreter** Laurence Cummings belongs to that rare category of early-music conductors…

# **Handel - Coronation Anthems - Laurence Cummings ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-anthems-145466434?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-anthems-145466434?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) ## **I. London, 1727: A New King and a New Musical Era** When **George I** died on **June 11, 1727**, the Hanoverian dynasty faced…

# **Brahms - Violin Sonatas - George Kulenkapff, violin - Georg Solti, piano - Studio Recording in 1948** [[[https://www.patreon.com/posts/brahms-violin-145333666?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/brahms-violin-145333666?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/brahms-violin-145333666?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/brahms-violin-145333666?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)** ** ***Three masterpieces of lyricism, intimacy, and mature emotional depth*** Brahms wrote only **three** violin…

# **When to Listen to Handel or Bach: Psychological States and Life Circumstances** Although Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel were born in the same year, wrote within the same stylistic universe, and…

# **Rameau - Castor et Pollux - Opera - Revised Version 1754 - Charles Farncombe - English Bath Festival Baroque Orchestra ** [[https://www.patreon.com/posts/rameau-castor-et-145331063?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/rameau-castor-et-145331063?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)](https://www.patreon.com/posts/rameau-castor-et-145331063?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) **Rameau — *****Castor et Pollux***** (1737 / 1754)** History, Context, Transformation,…

# **KATHLEEN BATTLE vs. JESSYE NORMAN** Two Voices, Two Worlds, One of the Greatest Rivalries in Modern Opera** In the history of opera, rivalries often emerge from vocal similarity, competition for the same roles,…

# **Antonio Caldara - La Passione di Gesù Cristo Signor Nostro - Fabio Biondi ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/antonio-caldara-145173511?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/antonio-caldara-145173511?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) *A monumental Venetian–Austrian oratorio, where Pietro Metastasio’s poetry meets Caldara’s spiritual depth* ## **1. A Masterpiece Born at…

# **Francesco Feo — A Life** *The forgotten master of the Neapolitan Baroque* Francesco Feo (1691–1761) lived during one of the most brilliant periods in Italian musical history, when Naples stood at the center…

# **Anecdotes & Curiosities from the Life of Pauline Viardot** **Her Friendships, Secrets, Collaborations, and Influence on the Composers of Her Century** ## **1. Berlioz and the moment he found his true Orfeo** Hector…

# **Pauline Viardot — A Life in 20 Chapters** **The Voice of Europe, The Muse of Composers, and One of the Most Influential Artists of the 19th Century** ## **Chapter 1 — A Childhood…

# THE BACH CANTATAS — LEONHARDT & HARNONCOURT AND A NARRATIVE COMPARISON WITH OTHER COMPLETE CYCLES When **Gustav Leonhardt** and **Nikolaus Harnoncourt** began recording the Bach cantatas in **1971**, the world of Baroque performance…

# **ANECDOTES & CURIOSITIES FROM THE LIFE OF MARIA CALLA*****S*** ## **1. Her Mother Sold Her Singing for Money** According to *Evangelia Callas’s memoir* and interviews with Maria in *Time Magazine* (1956), her mother…

# **Handel - The Occasional Oratorio - Robert King ** [https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-oratorio-144926391?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link](https://www.patreon.com/posts/handel-oratorio-144926391?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link) The genesis of **Handel’s *****Occasional Oratorio***** (1746)** cannot be understood without the turbulent atmosphere of mid-18th-century London. In the winter of 1745–1746, England…

# **RENATA TEBALDI — Anecdotes and Curiosities from a Legendary Life** ## **1. “The Voice of an Angel”: Toscanini’s Unforgettable Whisper** During the rehearsals for the reopening of La Scala in 1946, Arturo Toscanini,…

# **THE DEATH OF GIACOMO PUCCINI — A COMPLETE ANALYSIS** *Cancer, suffering, stubborn hope, desperation, and the unfinished ending of a genius* Giacomo Puccini’s death on **29 November 1924** in Brussels stands as one…

# **THE ROMANCE OF RICHARD WAGNER AND COSIMA LISZT:** PASSION, SCANDAL, AND A LIFE BUILT ON ART AND TURMOIL** Their story is one of the most **intense, controversial, and transformative love affairs** in classical…

# **BENIAMINO GIGLI — A LIFE IN 20 CHAPTERS** *A full, expansive biography* ## **Chapter I — Recanati: The Birth of a Voice (1890–1900)** Beniamino Gigli was born on **March 20, 1890**, in the…

# **HENRY HOLDEN HUSS — A LIFE** ## **I. Origins, Musical Childhood, and Early American Formation** Henry Holden Huss was born on **June 21, 1862**, in Newark, New Jersey, at a time when the…

# **HENRY CHARLES LITOLFF — A LIFE** ## **I. Origins, Childhood, and Early Musical Awakening** Henry Charles Litolff was born in London on **August 7, 1818**, the son of a Scottish mother, Sophie Hayes,…