Tag: Music Box
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Mozart and Salieri: From Pushkin to Shaffer
James L. Franklin1Chicago, Illinois, United States La CalunniaLa calunnia è un venticello,Un’auretta assai gentileChe insensibile, sottile,Leggermente, dolcemente,Incomincia a sussurarPiano, piano, terra, terraSottovoce, sibilando,Va scorrendo, va ronzandoS’introduce destramenteE le teste ed I Cervelli . . . Calumny is a little breezeA gentile zephyrWhich insensibly, subtly,Lightly and sweetly,Commences to whisper,Softly, softly here and there.Sottovoce, sibilantIt goes gliding,…
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Frederick Delius and his neurological disease
The life of the English composer Frederick Delius and his tragic encounter with the spirochaeta pallida has been extensively documented. He was born in 1862 in the industrial Yorkshire town of Bradford. His family had come to England from Germany but was originally Dutch, having changed its name in the sixteenth century from Delij or…
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Felix Mendelssohn, musical prodigy
Felix Mendelssohn made his musical debut at age nine. Born in Hamburg in 1809, he came from a distinguished German family that moved to Berlin in 1902. His grandfather and father had been successful businessmen who also made it a point to provide their children with an excellent education in the liberal arts. His grandfather…
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Franz Liszt, best piano player in Europe
Like Mozart and Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt was a musical prodigy. He played the piano when he was five years old. At eight, he could read difficult music, and two years later he was composing music himself. By age twelve he was ranked one of the best piano players in Europe.1 He was born in 1811…
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The life and death of Franz Schubert
Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain Born on 31 January 1797, Franz Peter Schubert was the twelfth of fourteen children, one of only five who survived infancy. His father was an enterprising schoolmaster and amateur cellist. Born in the Himmelpfortgrund suburb of Vienna, Schubert showed uncommon gifts for music from an early age. His father gave him his…
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Hector Berlioz: from medical school to music conservatory
Michael YafiHouston, Texas, United States Louis-Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) was born in La Côte-Saint-André, France. His father was a well-known physician in his hometown in the French Alps and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. At the age of eighteen, Hector was sent to Paris to study medicine.1 Although he was passionate about music,…
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Maria Callas—her inner voice revealed
Eelco WijdicksLea DacyRochester, Minnesota, United States In Prima Donna: The Psychology of Maria Callas, Paul Wink convincingly concludes—based on largely secondary sources—that Maria Callas was not only a wildly ambitious operator who was not known for an emollient manner, but a prime example of narcissism. Wink, a professor of psychology at Wellesley College, used conventional…