Christmas Concert Works for Band

'Le Nozze di Figaro' is one of the three opera's which Mozart composed on libretto's of Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838) the famous Viennese theaterdirector and courtpoet. The overture of 'Le Nozze di Fig...

Otto Nicolai's last opera 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor' is the only one left and also his only one in German language. It is still one of the most performed opera's in German opera houses. The lib...

Otto Nicolai's last opera 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor' is the only one left and also his only one in German language. It is still one of the most performed opera's in German opera houses. The lib...

German composer Otto Nicolai (1810-1849) started work on the overture based on Martin Luther's chorale 'Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott' (A mighty fortress is our God) in the summer of 1836. In the foll...

German composer Otto Nicolai (1810-1849) started work on the overture based on Martin Luther's chorale 'Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott' (A mighty fortress is our God) in the summer of 1836. In the foll...

French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of 'overtures', many of which have become popular concert works. They include true overtures, intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert o...

French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of 'overtures', many of which have become popular concert works. They include true overtures, intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert o...

The opera buffa 'Così fan tutte' (Thus do they all) is one of the three Mozart operas for which Da Ponte wrote the libretto. The other two Da Ponte-Mozart collaborations were 'Le nozze di Figaro' and...

The opera buffa 'Così fan tutte' (Thus do they all) is one of the three Mozart operas for which Da Ponte wrote the libretto. The other two Da Ponte-Mozart collaborations were 'Le nozze di Figaro' and...

El bateo' is a zarzuela in one act (genre chico) and four scenes, with music by Federico Chueca and libretto by Antonio Domínguez and Antonio Paso. The work is one of the representatives of the last w...

El bateo' is a zarzuela in one act (genre chico) and four scenes, with music by Federico Chueca and libretto by Antonio Domínguez and Antonio Paso. The work is one of the representatives of the last w...

Die Zauberflöte isn"t a romantic love story but a real parable: a resemblance about higher human striving to purity and self-improvement. Not love between two people is in the centre but a more indivi...

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...

Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar (1862 - 1941) parodied the conventions of Romantic opera in his own operas and secular cantatas, his music itself is staunchly Romantic in voice, little troubled by even...

1812 Ouverture Solenelle" was written by Tschaikowsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia's defense of Moscow against Napoleon's advancing Grande Armée at the "Battle of Borodino" in 1812. The overture debu...

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...

After completing and premiering his powerful and controversial 13th Symphony, Babi Yar, in 1962, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) spent the next year in a state of physical and creative recuperation. T...

Franz von Suppé composed about 30 operettas and 180 farces, ballets, and other stage works. Although the bulk of Suppé's operas have sunk into relative obscurity, the overtures - particularly 'Dichter...

Franz von Suppé composed about 30 operettas and 180 farces, ballets, and other stage works. Although the bulk of Suppé's operas have sunk into relative obscurity, the overtures - particularly 'Dichter...

As a contribution to the opera "Armer Columbus" by German composer Erwin Dressel, Shostakovich composed two of his quirkiest and oddest early orchestral pieces. An energetic "Entr"acte" in c minor (Al...

French composer Adolphe Adam composed his opera "Si j'étais roi" (if I Were King) in 1852. Though less popular than "Le postillon de Lonjumeau", it is often regarded as Adam's finest work. The well-de...

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...

Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV 49) (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's novel of t...

Since its premiere in 1892, "Werther" has ranked among Jules Massenet's most admired and beloved scores; it has also proved the most enduring. He was inspired to compose the opera about the doomed poe...

George Gershwin composed his "Cuban Overture" in July and August 1932. Originally was the work titled "Rumba" and was the result of a two-week holiday which Gershwin took in Havana, Cuba in February 1...