Okay, this is too fun of a story to pass up. Apparently, Katharina Wagner, the great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner thought it would be a great idea to “spice up” the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
And, oh, did she make it interesting.
The opera was modernized by having an arts league, with theater designs and film directors, [...]
I read musicological texts like some people read The National Inquirer or People magazine.
Mozart wrote a song telling a woman to lick his a**!
Was Vivaldi shacking up with a much younger woman?
Schumann was crazy and his best friend was in love with his wife!
Did Schubert get syphilis from that prostitute or that maid?
Yes, these are [...]
I realize the title of this post sounds musicologically irreverent. But that’s the point on Meet the Composers! Anyhow, during a piano lesson one day, my teacher said that Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms were like the Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher of their day. And I agreed. Clara Schumann was a beautiful and successful [...]
I have volunteered my time for a year and half at a local radio station here in Madison, Wisconsin called WORT 89.9 FM. I currently host a show for entitled Other Voices which emphasizes women’s contributions to classical music. And those contributions are myriad. There are women composers, performers, conductors, technicians on classically-based electronic music, [...]
I have complained about the film Immortal Beloved enough to write a post on it and finally just shut up!
Okay, my first order of business is the fact that the “Immortal Beloved” was probably some married aristocratic woman whom Ludwig had become infatuated with and wrote this mushy letter to. Of course, he never gave [...]
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