hank Archive

In his position as Kapellmeister to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Joseph Haydn was both an employee and, in a sense, the employer of the fine musicians who comprised the resident house band. In 1772, in what …

When we look at Beethoven’s piano music and focus on the Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, op. 31/2, “Tempest”, we find a work that reflects Beethoven’s 1802 feelings. Its title, “Der Sturm”(The Tempest), …

The Lark Ascending, a tone poem by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, was first performed in London on June 14, 1921. The piece was scored for solo violin and piano in 1914 and revised by …

The Sonata #3 for violin and piano by Beethoven always reminds me of music I heard at home. My father was an amateur violinist, and when I began to play the violin, I practiced this …

Franz Schubert died at age 31. Yet he was able to leave us about 600 songs scored for voice and piano. These actually began as poems by several different poets. In one such case the …