Composers Archive

Rachmaninov composed the Sonata for Cello and Piano, op. 19, in the fall and early winter of 1901 for the cellist Anatoly Brandukov. Towards the end of the last movement, Rachmaninov wrote the date “November …

Few of Johann Halvorsen’s compositions have managed to withstand the test of time, but his Passacaglia has remained one of the most widely-performed string duos in the chamber music repertoire. The theme is from the …

Marked by its technical bravura, the song “Widmung”, (or Dedication in English) has remained one of the most popular encore pieces in the piano literature, allowing pianists to display their virtuosity. However, Widmung is much …

French composer Claude Debussy was too sick to be called up for military service when World War I broke out in 1914. His private battle with cancer on top of his nation’s battle with Germany …

Evgeny Kissin was born in Moscow in October 1971 and began to play by ear and improvise on the piano at the age of two. At six years old, he entered a special school for …