Scores for Orchestra

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 Žofín concert...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) drew material for his NORWEGISCHE TÄNZE, Op. 35 (4 NORWEGIAN DANCES), originally scored for piano and four hands, from an 1853 collection of Norwegian folk tunes compiled by L...

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...

Nowegian composer Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) composed his ENTRY MARCH OF THE BOYARS in 1893, and it remains his most popular work. Following an offer of a post at the Bucharest Conservatory (which he...

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...