Classical Instrumental Works for Orchestra

SPHÄRENKLÄNGE WALZER (MUSIC OF THE SPHERES WALTZ), OP. 235 was composed by Josef Strauss (1827-1870) for a medical association ball in 1868. The first performance took place at that event on January 2...

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's best-known work, "Also sprach Zarathustra!" ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra!") has been an inspiration for many composers' works, but the best known is this 1896 symp...

Written in 1881, this "Serenade" for 13 wind instruments was written by Richard Strauss when he was only 17 years old. His father, the principal horn player with Munich's court orchestra, had a select...

Written in a Bavarian mountain resort in 1898, Richard Strauss' (1864-1949) eighth tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) was a response to Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ('Eroica'). Although he played...

The orchestral Suite No. 1 from Tchaikovsky's well-known ballet, THE NUTCRACKER, includes eight movements: I. Ouverture Miniature - Allegro giusto, II. Danses Caracteristiques a) Marche, b) Danse de l...

The Nutcracker is a two-act "fairy ballet" written by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). Based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," the original 1892 produ...

The Nutcracker is a two-act "fairy ballet" written by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). Based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 short story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King," the original 1892 produ...

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, Op. 66, was written by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) between 1888 and 1889. Based on a libretto by Ivan Vsevolozhsky, the well-known story borrows from versions by both th...

Russian Mythology/Legends Children's Ballet (complete)

While the original ballet, the story of Prince Siegfried's love for the Swan Queen, enchanted by the evil magician Rotbart to turn into a swan everyday, more or less succeeded at its 1877, Moscow prem...

While the original ballet, the story of Prince Siegfried's love for the Swan Queen, enchanted by the evil magician Rotbart to turn into a swan everyday, more or less succeeded at its 1877, Moscow prem...

One of the most popular ballets, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) composed SWAN LAKE in 1875-76. Tchaikovsky borrowed from the Russian and German folk tales to tell the of story a princess, Odette...

One of the most popular ballets, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) composed SWAN LAKE in 1875-76. Tchaikovsky borrowed from the Russian and German folk tales to tell the of story a princess, Odette...

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) made his first foray into the symphonic genre, SYMPHONY No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13, in 1866. He had just accepted his new role as a professor at the Moscow Conservat...

The first performance of I VESPRI SICILIANI (THE SICILIAN VESPERS), a five-act opera by Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901), took place at the Paris Opera on June 13, 1855, under the direction of Narcisse Gira...

Nabucco, a retelling of the biblical story of Jewish exile under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, was Giuseppe Verdi's first major operatic success, and was written reluctantly, following a difficu...

Nabucco, a retelling of the biblical story of Jewish exile under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, was Giuseppe Verdi's first major operatic success, and was written reluctantly, following a difficu...

Compared to Niccolò Paganini by friend Robert Schumann, Henri Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) was a well-known virtuoso violinist of the Franco-Belgian violin school in the mid-19th century. Aspiring towards b...

Instrumentation: 2, 2, 2(d 2 bssthns), 2 - 2, 2, 2, 3, 0, timp, perc (keyd glock), str (2.2.1.1.1)vocal soli (19 roles SSSSSSAAATTTTTBBBBB), chorus

Instrumentation: 2+1, 2, 2, 2 - 4, 2, 3, 0, timp, hp, str (2.2.1.1.1)vocal soli (10 roles, SSSATTBBBB), chorus

Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler was composed between 1903 and 1904 (rev. 1906; scoring repeatedly revised). The work's first performance was conducted by Mahler in Essen in 1906. The tragic...

Symphony No. 6 in A minor by Gustav Mahler was composed between 1903 and 1904 (rev. 1906; scoring repeatedly revised). The work's first performance was conducted by Mahler in Essen in 1906. The tragic...

The longest and best known of his four orchestral suites, SUITE NO. 3 in G Major, Op. 55 was written and orchestrated between April and July 1884. Unoriginally uncertain if his new large scale work wo...

LA TRAVIATA (THE FALLEN WOMAN), an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The opera was originall...