Composers Archive

Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto debuted in 1807 at the palace of Beethoven’s patron, Prince Lobkowitz. Its public debut occurred in a remarkable five hour concert on December 22, 1808, which also premiered the Fifth and …

Johannes Brahms actually had multiple careers in music: Early on he was a choir director; then he teamed up with violinist Joseph Joachim and they gave concerts throughout Europe. When Brahms began to give thought …

Beethoven was said to be especially pleased with his Sonata #11. In 1800, when he sent it to his publisher in Leipzig, Hoffmeister, he wrote ‘Die Sonate hat sich gewaschen’, which can be roughly translated …

Completed in 1919, the Cello Concerto was Edward Elgar’s last major work for orchestra. Elgar had been ill, and he was deeply depressed by the First World War’s destruction of the world he had known. …

Most of the time, the Sonatas by Beethoven carry the expected titles such as “Allegro”, “Adagio”, “Largo”, or “Presto. For the second movement of his Sonata Opus 27, however, Beethoven writes the following in German: …