The other day I was introduced to this piece – 3 Lieder nach Trakl, No. 1, Ein Traum I (Three Songs to Words by Trakl, No. 1, Three Dreams) by Polish composer Paweł Szymański (b. 1954). That’s a mouthful, I know. The first version I heard was this one, for soprano and piano: The first thing that struck […]
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In 2014, the movie The Theory of Everything won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (it was also nominated for an Academy Award in the same category). I don’t normally pay attention to those sorts of things, but I was intrigued by the composer – Icelandic musician Jóhann Jóhannsson – so I looked up the score. […]
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This piece came up in my “Recommended” section in YouTube, and I’d never heard it before, so I listened to it and thought I’d share it with you! American composer John Adams began writing music at a young age. He is one of America’s most well-known composers, as he has written a variety of works for […]
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One of my favorite Christmas carols is Silent Night. I love the way the lyrics describe the nativity scene, and the music itself is quite beautiful. This led me to wonder about the history of the song. If you liked my arrangement, click here to download the sheet music for free! The very first performance of Silent Night […]
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“Three lullabies for my sorrows.” That’s how Johannes Brahms (German pianist composer who lived from 1833-1897; read more about him here) described his op. 117. Written in the summer of 1892, op. 117 consists of three piano pieces categorized as – and named – Intermezzi (Brahms titled many of his pieces Intermezzo, which is defined as […]
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This is the best time of year. Thanksgiving is next week, and when is a better time to start being thankful for Jesus’s birth? 🙂 The only music I’ve been listening to lately is Christmas music, so today I’d like to share with you a favorite holiday album of mine – Christmas Rhapsody by pianist-composer John Bayless. For his […]
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Learn about the life and music of composer Ludwig van Beethoven.
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About Scriabin Alexander Scriabin: one of the most influential composers of modern music. The Russian composer and pianist, who lived from 1872-1915, either crazy or a genius (or both), influenced prominent 20th century composers (such as Igor Stravinsky and Prokofiev). Scriabin is known for his harsh dissonance and atonal music (music that does not have a tonal […]
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Learn about the life and music of composer Sergei Prokofiev.
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Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn (also known as Joseph Haydn or Papa Haydn) is a staple of the Classical era. Throughout his lifetime (1732-1809), he was highly regarded as a composer; in fact, he is known as “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet” because he was instrumental (pun definitely intended) in shaping […]
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