Artists Archive

The Sinfonia concertante for four wind instruments and orchestra, K 297b is a work surrounded by many mysteries, and so I decided to simply ignore the confusing history and let the music speak for itself. …

Frédéric Chopin composed his fourth Ballade, Op. 52, in 1842 in Paris. He dedicated it to Baroness Rothschild, who had invited him to play in her residence and introduced him to the Paris aristocracy. Chopin …

Schumann‘s Second Symphony began to take shape at the end of 1845, shortly after his recovery from a nervous breakdown. He made the following comment to Felix Mendelssohn: “drums and trumpets have been sounding in …

Ludwig van Beethoven composed sonatas for piano over his entire lifetime. He died at age 57, and he left us with 32 of these sonatas that generations of musicians and ordinary people have enjoyed. My …

Piotr Tchaikovsky composed his Fifth Symphony between May and August 26, 1888, and conducted the first performance in Saint Petersburg on November 17 of that year. Theodore Thomas, who would found the Chicago Orchestra two …