Scores for Orchestra

César Franck's (1822-1890) SYMPHONY IN D MINOR is the French composer's best-known orchestral work. In three, rather than four, movements, the work's shape is attained through thematic transformation,...

LES DJINNS was written at the request of pianist Caroline Montigny-Rémaury, though César Franck's (1822-1890) short work for piano and orchestra was instead premiered on March 15, 1885 by Louis Diémer...

Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman) is a symphonic poem by Romantic composer César Franck (1822-1890). Inspired by the ballad Der wilde Jäger (The Wild Hunter) by German poet Gottfried August B...

Russian composer Aleksandr Glazunov (1865-1936) had a particular love for ballet, and that love for the genre drove him to compose the eight-dance suite SCÈNES DE BALLET, Op. 52 in 1894. The work was...

Hänsel und Gretel, a Märchenspiel (Fairy-tale opera) in three acts, was written by Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) in 1890-1892, with a libretto by his sister Adelheid Wette. Humperdinck began to wo...

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818-1893) was a prolific French composer in the mid 1800s, but he was not well recognized by his peers or the public until his opera FAUST was first performed in Paris in 1859. The op...

Written by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) in 1868, the Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 is the only concerto completed by Grieg. It remains one of his most popular works and is among the...

The great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's poem "Peer Gynt," one of his greatest works, tells the tale of a young man so full of bravado, exuberance of spirit, wanderlust, and wantonness, that his...

The great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's poem "Peer Gynt," one of his greatest works, tells the tale of a young man so full of bravado, exuberance of spirit, wanderlust, and wantonness, that his...

SIGURD JORSALFAR, OP. 22, was composed by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) for a play by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in honor of King Sigurd I. First performed in Christiania on April 10, 1872, the incidental music...

This edition of George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) most famous work was adapted for performances in Vienna by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Suggested by Gottfried van Swieten, the German libr...

George Frideric Händel (1685-1759) was contracted to write Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 in 1749 by George II of Great Britain to be performed in London's Green Park on April 27 of that year...

The three-act opera Rodrigo, HWV 5, was composed in 1707 and was George Frideric Handel's (1685-1759) first opera in the Italian style. Telling the tale of the historical Rodrigo, the last Visigothic...

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) wrote Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor 'Farewell' (Hob. I.45; 'Abschiedssinfonie' in German), the most well-known of his 'Sturm und Drang' symphonies, in 1772, and it is...

Symphony No. 44 was completed in 1772 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Rumored that the composer requested the third movement be played at his funeral, the work is popularly known as "Trauersinfonie...

Traditionally attributed to Franz Joseph Haydn, the TOY SYMPHONY, Hob.II: 47, is known for its whimsical assortment of toy instruments. Authorship has long been disputed as musicologists have put fort...

French composer Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) wrote Le roi d'Ys, an opera in three acts and five tableaux, between 1875 and 1888. He was prompted by his wife, contralto Julie de Maligny, to use the Breton...

Édouard Lalo (1823-1892) wrote Concerto for Cello in D minor a few years after the popular Symphonie espagnole in 1876 for Belgian cellist Adolphe Fischer. The following year, Fischer was the soloist...

Anatoly Lyadov (1855-1914), one of the Russian Five, wrestled with doubt in his own creative talent. Exclusively writing small-scale works, he explored the folk music of his native country, much of wh...

Anatoly Lyadov (1855-1914) composed KIKIMORA, Op. 63 in 1909. Based on the familiar figure from Slavic mythology, the following description from Russian Folk-Tales of I.P. Sakharov (translated by Carl...

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) started work on his CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA No. 2 in A major, S. 125, in 1839 and 1840. Putting it through a series of revisions, he dedicated the concerto to his stud...

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) wrote 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano as a way to incorporate the music of his youth into his compositions, and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor, S.244/2 (1847) is b...

American composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) originally wrote his orchestral Suite No. 1, Op. 42 in 1891, although the original version only included four movements. In 1893, MacDowell added the 3rd...

Francisco de Madina (1907-1972), also known as Aita Madina, received his education in Bordeaux and was ordained a priest in 1929. He served his first parish in Buenos Aires and became director of a sc...

Francisco de Madina (1907-1972), also known as Aita Madina, received his education in Bordeaux and was ordained a priest in 1929. He served his first parish in Buenos Aires and became director of a sc...