Wolfgang Birtel

Maurice Ravel's melancholy popular 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' composed in 1899 was originally written for piano before he arranged it for orchestra in 1910. Though dedicated to a real princess, the...

No, it is not only Bach/Gounod when hearing the Ave Maria: Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), too, set this text to music several times - for example, for organ (without pedal) and two identical voices....

Maurice Ravel's melancholy popular 'Pavane for a Dead Princess' composed in 1899 was originally written for piano before he arranged it for orchestra in 1910. Though dedicated to a real princess, the...

'Novelty of form, selected modulations, strange tone colours, the use of completely unexpected rhythms', this is how Camille Saint-Saëns praised the debut work of a young colleague and continued: 'Abo...

Cirris Sonaten opus 11 für Violoncello und Bass waren bislang nur zum Teil in modernen Ausgaben erhältlich: Hier wird nun die komplette Sammlung mit ihren sechs Sonaten vorgelegt. Der Komponist, der M...

The Air by Johann Sebastian Bach at best can rival his setting Jesus bleibet meine Freude for popularity: The final chorus from the cantata BWV 147 Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life is really catchy b...

Elgar wrote his musical 'billet doux' in 1888 and dedicated it to his fiancée Caroline Alice Roberts. It was premiered in 1889 and helped to establish Elgar's reputation as a composer. To this day the...

La Muse et le poète op. 132 occupies a special place in Camille Saint-Saëns' oeuvre. In the fall of 1909, the composer reported to the cellist Joseph Hollmann on initial sketches for a duo (for violin...

The Spanish violinist and composer Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) is one of the most fascinating personalities among the 19th-century virtuosos. The child prodigy received violin lessons at the age of...

The Violinissimo series attempts to make the rich repertoire of five centuries of violin music accessible for lessons, concerts and private music-making. The anthology Serenade contains a selection of...

The Polish violin maestro, Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880), wrote most of his works for himself and performed them on his worldwide concert tours. This edition contains a selection of his most beautiful...

The composer, violinist and educationalist Louis Spohr (1784-1859) caused a sensation as a child already: At the age of 5, he took his first violin lessons and at the age of 15 was employed as chamber...

The Air by Johann Sebastian Bach at best can rival his setting Jesus bleibet meine Freude for popularity: the final chorus from the cantata BWV 147 Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life is very catchy due...

The Air by Johann Sebastian Bach at best can rival his setting Jesus bleibet meine Freude for popularity: The final chorus from the cantata BWV 147 Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life is really catchy b...

The 'Air' by Johann Sebastian Bach at best can rival his setting 'Jesus bleibet meine Freude' for popularity: The final chorus from the cantata BWV 147 'Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life' is really ca...

Finally, you can vent your bad mood musically: The Duetto buffo di due gatti (Comic Duet for Two Cats) by Gioachino Rossini provides excellent opportunity to do just that by means of music and mime. I...

Allenfalls die 'Air' von Johann Sebastian Bach kann es an Popularität mit seinem Satz 'Jesus bleibet meine Freude' aufnehmen: Der Schlusschor aus der Kantate BWV 147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'...

It is therefore quite wrong to place just mechanical or mediocre players at the viola', warned Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart in 1784/85 in his 'Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst'. Some disreg...

The collection “Best of Viola Classics - 16 Famous Concert Pieces” for viola and piano presented by Schott contains a selection of works that can accompany every pupil in many years of his or her viol...

The cellist Friedrich August Kummer is one of the best-known virtuosos of the 19th century. Among his numerous compositions, arrangements and concert paraphrases are these catchy transcriptions of Sch...

The genre of the violoncello concerto was born in 17th-century Italy. Thanks to the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), there exists today not only a wealth of magnificent violin concertos...

Enttäuscht, dass er mit seinen musikalischen Ambitionen in der Metropole London nicht reüssieren konnte, zog sich der englische Komponist Edward Elgar in die Provinz zurück. Im Sommer des Jahres 1888...