Wolfgang Birtel

'Alt Wiener Tanzweisen' [Old Viennesse dance tunes] are pretty miniatures, vibrant and catchy (the second one with a slightly elegiac colouring), but all have melodic charm and musical elegance. And w...

'Alt Wiener Tanzweisen' [Old Viennesse dance tunes] are pretty miniatures, vibrant and catchy (the second one with a slightly elegiac colouring), but all have melodic charm and musical elegance. And w...

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...

A 'Last Night of the Proms' without this march - unthinkable! 'Pomp and Circumstance Military March No. 1' with its middle section, the hymn-like 'Land of Hope and Glory' by Edward Elgar (1857-1934),...

The 19th century was not only the era of great forms, monumental symphonies and melodious sonatas, no, the Romantic composers proved to be versatile and highly imaginative on the field of little music...

A wedding without a famous wedding march - unimaginable! Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus' from 'Lohengrin' and Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' from the incidental music of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' vie for th...

A wedding without a famous wedding march - unimaginable! Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus' from 'Lohengrin' and Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' from the incidental music of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' vie for th...

The music scene took notice of Erik Satie (1866-1925) all of a sudden: The world premiere of his ballet 'Parade' on 18 May 1917 [siehe dt. Text!] caused quite a scandal. The production which involved...

Even though Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), admittedly, was no fan of the flute, he wrote unforgettable music for this instrument 'that I can't stand': two concertos, a double concerto with harp,...

'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...

The famous Golliwogg's Cakewalk is the final piece from Debussy's cycle Children's Corner which consists of 6 miniatures for piano, written for his daughter in the years 1906-1908.The style correspond...

Even though Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), admittedly, was no fan of the flute, he wrote unforgettable music for this instrument 'that I can't stand': two concertos, a double concerto with harp,...

The fact that the Bohemian composer Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900) is in the shadow of Smetana and Dvorák is totally unjustified because he, too, was instrumental in the foundation of the Czech national sc...

The fact that the Bohemian composer Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900) is in the shadow of Smetana and Dvorák is totally unjustified because he, too, was instrumental in the foundation of the Czech national sc...

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...

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...

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...

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...