Wolfgang Birtel

Solitude, a "romance sans parole" – as Rita Strohl (1865-1941) described the miniature in her handwritten catalogue raisonné – for violoncello and piano was written in 1887, but was not printed until...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

The Trio in G major / E minor op. 103 by the Oppenheim composer and pupil of Max Regers can be assigned to the composer's late work on the basis of the opus number, even if no year of composition and...

The Sonata for clarinet, viola, horn and piano, op. 37 was composed in 1920 (at the latest). The violist Michael Balling, a friend of Johanna Senfter, wrote to the composer about the work, which he ha...

'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 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 caused quite a scandal. The production which involved Sergey Diaghilev w...

In the 1870s, Fauré wrote three songs which, initially, had not been intended as a set, but were later compiled as opus 7, the first being Après un rêve, a romantic, lyrical song.