Debussy String Quartet

I'm always tickled by composer trivia questions, like which standard canon works begin in a major key and end in a minor key? I'll give you one, but please comment others below: Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony. Well, how about this one: how many of Beethoven's 16 string quartets end i ...  Show more

Brahms spent much of his adult life battling with his ambition to write the next great symphony and his terror at the shadow of Beethoven standing behind him. Brahms tortured himself for 14 years with his first symphony, and only published it when he was 49 years old. But when th ...  Show more

Synopsis Expatriate American composer Conlon Nancarrow came to the conclusion that the rhythmically complex, intricate contrapuntal music he wanted to write would be too difficult for mere mortals to tackle, so he composed for a mechanical instrument: the player piano. Despite it ...  Show more

Synopsis On today’s date in 1826, Franz Schubert completed what would be his last string quartet, published posthumously as his Opus 161. 1826 was a rather frustrating year for Schubert. Prospects for commissions didn’t pan out, and he wrote the following note to the oldest publi ...  Show more

Synopsis Two famous pieces of chamber music had their premieres on today’s date, both at private readings prior to their first public performances. On today’s date in 1842, German Romantic composer Robert Schumann arranged for a trial reading of his new Piano Quintet at the Leipz ...  Show more

Synopsis On today’s date in 1940, the Chicago Symphony helped celebrate their 50th anniversary with the premiere performance of a specially commissioned symphony from famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky himself was on hand to conduct his Symphony in C — a work tha ...  Show more