On February 27, 1854, Robert Schumann attempted suicide by jumping from a bridge into the river Rhine. Some fishermen soon rescued him, but his sanity was gone. For years he had struggled with mental illness: he heard voices; the note “A” droned on in his head for hours; strange music played in his head; visions … Continued
What would Christmas be without music? For many of us, music is an indelible part of our Christmas memories and traditions. The same has been true for many Christmas-loving classical composers throughout the ages, so it is no surprise that many of them wrote Christmas music of their own. In roughly chronological order from oldest … Continued
The Houston Symphony has received a nomination for the 60th Grammy Awards for the recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for Best Opera Recording in the classical category. Hailed by Gramophone as “One of the finest Wozzecks on record, orchestrally speaking,” and by Fanfare as a “Terrifically imposing performance” under the direction of an “experienced and confident conductor,” the two-disc album features former Music Director Hans … Continued
When Shostakovich began composing his First Violin Concerto in 1947, he was enjoying a period of relative calm. World War II had distracted Stalin’s government from show trials and purges, leaving artists slightly less harassed than usual. In 1942, Shostakovich unveiled his Leningrad Symphony, which won a Stalin Prize and was played across the allied … Continued
This Thanksgiving, the Houston Symphony presents one of the repertoire’s most popular orchestral works: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Discover the story behind this masterpiece inspired by The One Thousand and One Nights. On February 27, 1887, the acclaimed Russian composer Alexander Borodin was attending a party when, after dancing a waltz, he dropped dead of a heart … Continued
After graduating from Yale in 1898, the young Charles Ives moved to New York City and took up residence with other recent graduates in a series of apartments, each of which was known affectionately as “Poverty Flat.” During the decade between his graduation and marriage, Ives would pursue two careers simultaneously: one as a church … Continued
Niccolò Paganini was perhaps the most influential violinist in the history of music. His tours across Europe from 1829-1834 astonished audiences; many of his compositions were so difficult that initially only he could play them. He not only revolutionized violin playing, but also inspired composers that followed him to make virtuoso technique a central part … Continued
You may not have heard of it, but it’s kind of like the European “Grammy.” It’s called the ECHO Klassik Award. The Houston Symphony was awarded the distinguished 2017 ECHO Klassik Award for Best Opera Recording (20th/21st Century Opera), for their recording of Wozzeck. Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck is about a soldier who commits a murder out of jealousy – a tragedy full of … Continued
Sergey Prokofiev composed his Fifth Symphony during the fateful summer of 1944. Though the Second World War was still raging, the tide had turned in the Allies’ favor. The Soviets were pushing back the Nazis from their borders, and the US and British Allies had landed on the beaches of Normandy in June. Prokofiev in … Continued
When Mozart set out to write three symphonies in the summer of 1788, he could not have known that they would be his last essays in the genre. He was eager to bring in much needed additional income, as the Vienna premiere of his opera Don Giovanni in the spring had not been an unequivocal success. The … Continued
1816 was a busy year for Franz Schubert. He composed approximately 200 compositions, including a mass, various other sacred choral works, his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, an overture, two concertante works for violin and orchestra, at least two string quartets, three violin sonatas, various other chamber works, two piano sonatas, numerous dances and dozens of … Continued
This season, the Houston Symphony welcomes a new Composer-in-Residence, Jimmy López Bellido. Born in Peru, trained in Finland and currently living in San Francisco, López’ star has been on the rise in recent years, most notably with the high-profile world premiere of his opera Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Get to know the man behind … Continued
Following the success of the recently opened St. Petersburg Conservatory, the first institution of its kind in Russia, a second conservatory opened in Moscow in 1866. Among the new professors was one of the first graduates of the St. Petersburg school: a young composer named Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A large proportion of the Moscow Conservatory’s … Continued
Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Symphony may be the greatest graduation project of all time. Composed at the age of 18, Shostakovich’s First Symphony was written to fulfill the graduation requirements of the Leningrad Conservatory (earning him the equivalent of a college music degree), and would take the international music world by storm the following year. But … Continued
For three years, Mahler had composed almost nothing. His first three gargantuan symphonies had only met with sporadic success, if they were performed at all, and he was consumed with the Herculean task of his new job: running Vienna’s Imperial Opera. Mahler was determined to transform the declining institution into a musical and theatrical experience … Continued
In 1891, Mrs. Jeannette Thurber, an energetic American philanthropist and music lover, had a great triumph: she convinced the world-renowned Czech composer Antonin Dvořák to be the new director of her National Conservatory of Music in New York City. For his arrival the following year, she commissioned him to write a piece for the 400th anniversary … Continued
The Houston Symphony Chorus recently completed a highly successful series of concerts in the Czech Republic. Chorus Manager Anna Diemer shares her memories and impressions below. When I accepted the offer to become Manager of the Houston Symphony Chorus, I never imagined that in two short years I would be pedal-boating down the Vltava River in … Continued
As Gabriel Lena Frank’s productive three year tenure as the Houston Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence comes to a close, this Latin Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated composer has been preparing one of her most ambitious projects to date. Frank’s new Conquest Requiem calls for a large orchestra and chorus, plus soprano and baritone soloists. This is a big piece … Continued
Scandal has rocked the Houston Symphony after an anonymous source leaked disturbing photos that appear to depict a physical confrontation between Houston Symphony Principal Cellist Brinton Averil Smith and world-renowned cello superstar Yo-Yo Ma. The attack is alleged to have occurred after Ma’s sold-out, one-night-only appearance with the Houston Symphony last February. The cause of … Continued
What do Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony have in common? Answer: All three pieces went unplayed for decades only to become concert hall staples when rediscovered by later generations. This same process of musical rebirth will unfold at Jones Hall this April when Principal Cellist Brinton Averil Smith performs a … Continued