Pablo de Sarasate's 'Zigeunerweisen' (Gypsy Airs) for Violin and Orchestra was written in 1878 and premiered during the same year in Leipzig. It is based on themes of the Roma people, specifically the...
'Le carnaval des animaux' (The Carnival of the Animals) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. 'Le Cygne' is the 13th movement of the suite, original...
For the 'Petite Suite' Bartók had six movements from his '44 Duos for two violins' fused into one piano work. Dutch composer and saxophonist van Zoelen has now arranged the suite for his instrument, u...
November 22 should be a holiday for every true music lover. Then it is St. Cecilia's Day, the day of the patron saint of music and musicians. This day was highly regarded in the Anglo-Saxon countries....
Franz Doppler (1821 -1883), was a flute virtuoso and a composer born in Lemberg (the modern Lvov, in Ukraine). His father, a composer and oboist at the Warsaw Opera, gave him a strong musical foundati...
Andreas van Zoelen (* 1978) is a saxophonist and composer of Dutch/Moravian descent. He studied conducting and saxophone at the Brabants Conservatorium in the Netherlands, with Jean Pennings. He start...
After the 'Battle of Vitoria', Beethoven's friend Johann Nepomuk Maelzel talked him into writing a composition for his panharmonicon (a kind of 'mechanical orchestra') to commemorating this battle. Th...
At the end of his life Offenbach composed his opera 'Les contes d'Hoffman', but unfortunately he was not able to finish it. The plot tells the story of the poet Hoffmann telling three of his amorous a...
Carmen' is probably the most famous opera in the whole opera-repertoire, although its premiere in 1875 was a great disappointment. The chorus 'Vivat! Vivat le Torero!' is sung in the second act of the...
With Les Pêcheurs des Perles Bizet first made his mark in 1863. Set in ancient Ceylon, this tale of friendship, love and betrayal has been performed more and more often in opera houses around the worl...
Verdi composed 'Un Ballo in Maschera' for the San Carlo Theatre in Naples where it was to have been staged during the 1858 carnival season. The libretto told the true story of the liberal King Gustavu...
Il Pirata' (The Pirate) was Bellini's third opera. 'Il Pirata' is an opera in two acts to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play 'Bertram', or 'The Castle of...
Oberto, Verdi 's very first opera was premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 17 november 1839. The Coro di Cavalieri is one of the beautiful examples of Verdi 's great choir writing.
