Baton Music

In 1933 Revueltas composed his brief symphonic poem "Janitzio" named after an island in Lake Patzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán, west of Mexico City, whose population had derived its income largely...

Absolutely the most famous 'Canzone Napoletana' is 'O Sole Mio' composed by the Italian singer and songwriter Eduardo di Capua (1865-1917) in 1898. The lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro. Though...

Johann Strauss wrote the 'Russische Marsch-Fantasie' (Russian March Fantasy) for a tour to Russia in 1872. Because the tour was cancelled, the successful first performance of the march was held in Vie...

Although Arturo Marquez was already an accomplished composer in Mexico, his music started to reach the international stage with the introduction of his series of Danzones in the early 1990s. This vene...

Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". The piece closes the 3rd act, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Pr...

Saint-Saëns also contributed voluminously to the French concertante literature. He wrote five piano concertos, three violin concertos, two cello concertos, and about twenty smaller concertante works f...

Nowadays, Carmen is probably the most famous opera in the whole opera-repertoire, although its premiere in 1875 was a great disappointment because of the misunderstanding of the very realistic plot. C...

Maurice Ravel finished In 1905 his piano cycle "Miroirs" of which some parts are orchestrated by the composer himself. Especially the fourth part, "Alborada del gracioso", created in 1919 in Paris for...

Ombra mai fù is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by Georg Friederich Handel. The opera itself was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19...

Czech composer Leos Janácek (1854-1928) has been inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style and along with Dvorák and Smetana, he is considered one of...

In a life spanning almost ninety-five years, Stolz wrote in excess of 2000 songs, dances and marches, as well as the music for more than 50 stage works, 60 films and 19 ice revues. In 1929 the German...

Giuseppe Giordani (1751-1798) was an Italian composer, mainly of opera. Giordani is mostly know for his popular aria 'Caro mio ben'. This song is even nowadays sung by many great singers, as well male...

'Die Moldau' (Vltava) is the second movement of the the symphonic poem cycle 'Ma Vlast' by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. In this piece, Smetana uses tone painting to evoke the sounds of one of Bohem...

'Parade' is a ballet with music by Erik Satie and a one-act scenario by the French artist Jean Cocteau composed in 1916-1917 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and premiered in 1917 in Paris. The c...

Johann Strauss jr. composed in 1864 the 'Persischer Marsch' (Persian March), Op. 289. It was dedicated this to his Majesty Nasir-ad-Din imperial Shah of Persia (1831-1896). The melody of the trio is t...

The Planets by composer Gustav Holst is a seven-movement orchestral suite in which each movement is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character. The orchestra...

Besides operettas Franz Lehár also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems, marches and a number of waltzes. The most popular of these waltzes is 'Gold und Silber' (Gold and Silver) which he composed for Princ...

'By Strauss' is a song composed by George Gershwin in 1936. It pays homage to the music of Johann Strauss Sr. and Johann Strauss Jr.. The singer sings how she doesn't like Broadway, Irving Berlin, Jer...

The 'Piano Concerto No. 1' in B-flat minor, Op. 23, is one of the most popular of Tschaikowsky's compositions and among the best known of all piano concertos. The concerto follows the traditional form...

Vincenzo Bellini, was one of the three great composers of the belcanto-era. However, besides his opera's his instrumental output is limited. The Concerto for Oboe in E-flat major, most likely composed...

'Il Convegno' (in Italian 'the meeting' or the 'appointment') for two clarinets and piano was composed by Amilcare Ponchielli in 1857. 'Il Covegno' is in three sections, linked by cadenzas and other c...

As a composer, Edward MacDowell is mostly remembered for his two piano concertos, a great number of compositions for piano, several important instrumental suites and a large number of songs that were...

Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) is a well-known piece written for solo piano by Maurice Ravel in 1899 when he was studying composition at the Conservatoire de Paris under...

'Lyric Pieces' (Norwegian: Lyriske stykker) is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 (Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The colle...

Puciini's famous aria from the Opera Gianni Schicchi in an arramgement for Clarinet Quintet.