Verdi – Short Biography Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was[…]

The Story Behind “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky The story of The Nutcracker is loosely based on the E.T.A. Hoffmann fantasy story The Nutcracker and the Mouse[…]

The Story Behind the Symphony No. 5 by Beethoven Beethoven was already growing deaf when he started his fifth symphony in 1804. He began working on[…]

The Story Behind “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik, or “A Little Night Music”, byname of Serenade No. 13 in G Major, serenade for[…]

The Story Behind “Bagatelles” by Beethoven By the end of 1803, Beethoven had already sketched bagatelles Nos. 1 to 5, along with several other short works[…]

Prokofiev – Short Biography Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (27 April 1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the[…]

The Story Behind “Moonlight” by Beethoven The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven.[…]

The Story Behind “The Blue Danube” by Strauss In 1865, Johann Herbeck, choirmaster of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned Strauss to write a choral work;[…]

The Story Behind “Fantaisie-Impromptu” by Chopin The Fantaisie-Impromptu was written in 1834, as were the Four Mazurkas and the Grande valse brillante, but unlike these other[…]

Five Facts You Didn’t Know About Rachmaninoff 1. A young musical genius Sergei Rachmaninov was born on 1 April 1873 in Semyonovo, north-west Russia. As a[…]