Scores for Orchestra

CONCERTPIECE (KONZERTSTÜCK) IN F MAJOR, Op. 86 is a piece for four horns and orchestra by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). He composed it in 1849, while living in Dresden, after hearing Joseph-Rudolph Lew...

The first significant success for Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), KARELIA MUSIC was commissioned for a lottery sponsored by the Viipuri Students' Association to foster education in Vyborg Province. Its fir...

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...

Kuolema ("Death" in Finnish) is a play by Arvid Järnefelt. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) happened to be Järnefelt's brother-in-law, and he composed incidental music to the play under the same title (Kuole...

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,...

The comic operetta DIE FLEDERMAUS (The Bat) by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) is the composer's best known operetta, though "The Waltz King" is perhaps better remembered yet for his contribut...

THE GYPSY BARON (DER ZIGEUNERBARON) is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on October 24, 1885. Its libretto, penned by the author Ign...

THE QUEEN'S LACE HANDKERCHIEF (DAS SPITZENTUCH DER KÖNIGIN) is an operetta by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899). The libretto by Heinrich Bohrmann-Riegen and Richard Genée is based on a fictional story ab...

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...

Richard Strauss's (1864-1949) tone poem DON JUAN, Op. 20, was composed in 1888. The work is based on Don Juans Ende, a play derived from an unfinished 1844 retelling of the tale by poet Nikolaus Lenau...

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...

Written in a Bavarian mountain resort in 1898, Richard Strauss' (1864-1949) eighth tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) was a response to Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ('Eroica'). Although he played...

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 Iljitsch Tschaikowsky's (1840-1893) best-known opera. The story depicts the life of the titular Onegin, a Russian dandy who does no...

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 orchestral Suite No. 1 from Tchaikovsky's well-known ballet, THE NUTCRACKER, includes eight movements: I. Ouverture Miniature - Allegro giusto, II. Danses Caracteristiques a) Marche, b) Danse de l...

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...