Scores for Orchestra

Started in 1898, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) completed and premiered his SYMPHONY No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39, the following year when only 33 years old. Dissatisfied with the original version, which has b...

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) composed his three-movement Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 52 between 1906 and 1907, with the work receiving its premiere by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society under the compo...

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) first composed the tone poem En Saga, Op. 9 in 1892, with the work premiering on February 16th, 1893, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic. While one might imag...

Má vlast (My Fatherland or My Country) is a collection of six symphonic poems composed by Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) between 1874 and 1879. Conceived as individual works, though commonly presented as...

Louis Spohr (1784-1859), a German composer, conductor, and violinist, formed an acquaintance with Beethoven and, although greatly critical of his ninth symphony, promoted much of his work. His innovat...

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...

Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899) wrote the KAISER-WALZER, Op. 437 (EMPEROR WALTZES) to celebrate the toast of friendship that Franz Joseph I extended when he visited Wilhelm II in 1889. Fritz Simrock,...

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) wrote FURIOSO POLKA, OP. 260, in 1861, at a time when these quick dances thrived in Viennese ballrooms. In the subtitle "quasi Galopp", he indicated that the piece should...

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...

The fourth in a set of tone poems that Richard Strauss (1864-1949) wrote before his career as an opera composer, DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION (TOD UND VERKLÄRUNG) portrays the death of an artist and the...

TILL EULENSPIEGELS LUSTIGE STREICHE (TILL EULENSPIEGEL'S MERRY PRANKS), is a tone poem written in 1894-95 by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). It chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasa...

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 between 1886 and 1888, Richard Strauss' (1864-1949) MACBETH, Op. 23 was the then young composer's first tone poem, which he described as "a completely new path" in his composition. It premiere...

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) originally wrote this work for solo piano and orchestra under the title Scherzo in D minor in 1886 for conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow, a large influence on Strauss' c...

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) wrote his VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MINOR, Op. 8, between 1881 and 1882, and it remained his only foray in that genre. Composed while a teenager and still in school. While still...

Written while still a student of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky was encouraged to begin work on this piece for full orchestra in 1905. The young composer's first composition foray beyond piano, i...

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) composed Capriccio Italien, Op. 45, in 1880 following a trip to Rome with his brother, Modest. Originally titled Italian Fantasia, the work incorporates the music...

EUGENE ONEGIN, based on a verse-novel by Alexander Pushkin, is Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) best-known opera. The story depicts the life of the titular Onegin, a Russian dandy who does not...

Tchaikovsky's largest symphony both in length and instrumentation, the MANFRED SYMPHONY remained unnumbered, though it was written between his 4th and 5th symphonies.  A programmatic symphony bas...

Marche Slave, Op. 31, ("Slavonic March") was first performed in Moscow in November 1876. It is a rousing patriotic work based on Serbian and Russian folk themes. Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write...

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...

Among the most frequently performed and well-known of P. I. Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) works, The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49 (more commonly known as the 1812 Overture) was written in 1880 to co...

Among the most frequently performed and well-known of P. I. Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) works, The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49 (more commonly known as the 1812 Overture) was written in 1880 to co...

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) first took up the idea of writing an overture to HAMLET in 1876. Twelve years later, the actor Lucien Guitry approached him with a request to write incidental musi...

The Sleeping Beauty ballet in 3 acts, which tells the story of conflicting forces of good and evil, incorporates various fairy-tale characters from the Brothers Grimm and French fairy tales. Tchaikovs...