Scores for Orchestra

Originally written for piano four hands in 1879, this set of 21 lively dance tunes, mostly on Hungarian themes, are among Johannes Brahms' (1833-1897) most popular works today, and they were the most...

Max Bruch (1838-1920) composed his VIOLIN CONCERTO No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 in 1866, premiering on April 24, 1866, by Otto von Königslow on violin, with Max Bruch conducting. Following, the violin vir...

Written in 1880 and premiered on February 22, 1881, by the Liverpool Philharmonic Society under the direction of the composer, with Joseph Joachim performing the solo violin, the SCHOTTISCHE FANTASIE...

Written in 1880 and premiered on February 22, 1881, by the Liverpool Philharmonic Society under the direction of the composer, with Joseph Joachim performing the solo violin, the SCHOTTISCHE FANTASIE...

Performed only three times during Anton Bruckner's (1824-1896) lifetime, the immense Symphony No. 8, considered the composer's most awesome and sweeping symphony, took over five years to write and rev...

After España, the short work Joyeuse Marche is French composer Emmanuel Chabrier's (1841-1894) second most popular composition. The joyous and at times comical piece was originally written for piano,...

España, rhapsody for orchestra is the most well-known work by French composer Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894). Written in 1883, Chabrier was inspired following a trip to Spain with his wife, where he le...

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) composed the Andante Spianto and Grande Polonaise Brillante in E-flat Major, Op. 22, between 1830 and 1834. The polonaise, originally composed for solo piano and later scor...

Les Sylphides is a ballet blanc set to the music of Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) by Russian composer, teacher, and conductor Alexander Glazunov. Described as a "romantic reverie" by dance historian and...

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, L. 86) was composed by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) in 1894. A symphonic poem based on Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem L’après-midi d’un f...

LA MER was the second of Claude Debussy's (1862-1918) three orchestral works in three sections. Although the composition of LA MER took him more than a year and a half, this was unusually quick progre...

Léo Delibes' (1836-1891) Coppélia (1870) is a comic ballet that tells the story of a sinister doctor who has made a beautiful, life-sized dancing doll (the title character) and the young man who becom...

Léo Delibes (1836-1891) looked to a play of the Italian Renaissance, Torquato Tasso's AMINTA, for narrative material when composing his full-length ballet SYLVIA. Choreographed by Louis Mérante, with...

Don Pasquale, regarded as one of the crowning gems of comic opera, had its first performance on January 3, 1843 by the Theatre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour in Paris. Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) co...

Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) composed his SYMPHONY No. 5 in F Major, Op. 76, in the summer of 1875. Originally published as SYMPHONY No. 3, it received its first performance at the Prague Zofín concert...

Popularly know as the "New World Symphony," Antonín Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor was composed in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. A major part of...

In 1879, Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) was commissioned by Simrock, his publisher, to write a violin concerto. He dedicated his CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN in A Minor, Op. 53/B. 108, to Joseph Joachim, who had p...

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...

In October 1880, as he was completing his sixth symphony, Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock that he wanted to complete a set of duets for piano in the next month. On Janu...

Composed by Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) in the spring of 1883, SCHERZO CAPRICCIOSO IN D-FLAT MAJOR, Op. 66/B. 131 is a favorite of the concert hall not only for its colorful humor but also for its rest...

In 1892 Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) embarked on a "farewell" tour of Bohemian and Moravian cities prior to departing for the United States, and he chose his friends, violinist Ferdinand Lachner and cel...

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) wrote this single-movement Romance in F minor for solo violin and orchestra (or piano) in 1877 at the request of Josef Markus, leader of the Provisional Theatre Orchestra in...

In October of 1898, Edward Elgar returned home after a long day of teaching, ate dinner, then sat down at the piano to doodle on the keys. Elgar described what followed: “In a little while, soothed an...

The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50, is by French composer Gabriel Fauré written in 1887. It was originally a piano piece, but is better known in Fauré's version for orchestra and optional chorus. Obt...

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) wrote the Dolly Suite, Op. 56, originally as a collection of six pieces for piano duet. Each short work marked the birthday or other event in the life of the daughter of Emma...