Scores for Orchestra

Count d'Ogny commissioned Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) to write three symphonies for the Concert de la Loge Olympique, which was then recognized as one of the finest orchestras in Europe. He complet...

Popularly known as the “New World Symphony,” Antonín Dvorák's (1841-1904) Symphony No. 9 in E minor was composed in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. A m...

The Chandos Anthems, HWV 246-256, are a collection of eleven anthems composed by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) when he was composer in residence at Cannons, the court of James Brydges, newly the...

The well-known hymn NIMM VON UNS, HERR, DU TREUER GOTT, also set to music by J.S. Bach, was written by Martin Moller during a period of plague and was often used as a plea against God's anger. Dietric...

Songs and Dances of Death (Pesni i plyaski smerti), composed in the mid-1870s, is widely considered the finest song cycle by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881). The composer selected four poems penned by h...

Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) composed his Concerto for Cello in B minor, Op. 104/B. 191 in 1894. It was the last solo concerto that the composer wrote, and it was the final work that he wrote during his...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...

An der Schönen Blauen Donau (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), Op. 314, written by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) is one of the most popular works in classical music, and remains well-known in popular cul...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...

Two series of Slavonic Dances, each of them consisting of eight numbers and separated by eight years, were composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904). The idea was suggested to the composer by the publish...

George Butterworth (1885-1916), an English composer whose life was cut short at the Battle of the Somme, wrote two song cycles based on A SHROPSHIRE LAD, a collection of 63 poems by A.E. Housman. Conc...

La Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus), K. 621 was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) in 1791 after he had almost finished Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Commissioned to celebrate...

Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impressario) is a comic singspiel written by W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) as "a parody on the vanity of singers," who argue over status and pay. Described by Mozart as "comedy w...

The Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written by Johannes Brahms in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on...

The text to the well-known Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem comes from an 1868 text written by Episcopal priest Phillips Brooks. It is popular in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, a...

The key to George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) genius lies in his operas and oratorios. Handel's output of vocal compositions has established his greatness far more than the few organ concerti, sonat...

The MAURERISCHE TRAUERMUSIK (MASONIC FUNERAL MUSIC) in C minor, K. 477/K. 479a by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) was composed in 1785 as a member of the Freemasons. It was performed during a Ma...

Montage was composed by Donald O. Johnston (b. 1929) in 1989. Divided into two sections, an Introduction presents the materials that are to be developed in the Fugue that follows. Instrumentation: 2.2...

JOHANN STRAUSS II (1825-1899) initially wrote FRÜHLINGSSTIMMEN, Op. 410 (VOICES OF SPRING) as a concert aria. He dedicated the piece, with a libretto by Richard Genée, to pianist-composer Alfred Grünf...

It is widely believed that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote the Adagio in E major, K. 261 in or around 1776 as a replacement for the second movement of his Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219....

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) began work on a Symphony in E-flat after the completion of his fifth. Intending his sketches to become his sixth symphony, the composer abandoned the work as too...

This orchestration for 11 wind instruments of three (Starodávný I, Dymák, and Starodávný II) of the six Lachian Dances (Lašské Tance) by Czech composer Leoš Janácek (1854-1928) has been completed by G...

Ramuntcho was a 1897 novel by Pierre Loti for which Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937) composed incidental music for a 1908 staged version. Pierné extracted two suites from the Basque-inspired incidental musi...

Percy Grainger (1882-1961) wrote the suite IN A NUTSHELL in 1916, originally scored for large orchestra, although both a solo piano and a 2-piano version followed that same year. The work consists of...

This is the fifth among thirteen string symphonies written between 1821 and 1823, when Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was twelve to fourteen years old. Like the other twelve, it was written as a tribut...