Every piece of classical music has a unique composition story. Inevitably, some of those stories ended early after, say, a composer left a score unfinished, or destroyed it, or never wrote anything down in the first place. These lost works

In his day, Moritz Moszkowski was a famous and well-respected musician. He was an accomplished pianist who performed extensively across Europe, and as a highly sought-after teacher, he influenced generations of future piano virtuosos. 100 years after his passing on

On 6 March 2006, the French minister of Culture and communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, and the director of the Cité de la Musique, Laurent Bayle, announced the beginning of the construction of the

“I was born into a China of misery and tears. The China of my birth was a vast, undeveloped country, where poverty, banditry, and civil war were rife, and where it was particularly unwise to be born female.” With these

Gioachino Rossini was known for his playful, irreverent wit and larger-than-life personality. His music certainly radiated lively exuberance, and it was full of energy and infectious charm that mirrored his zest for life. Rossini was a man of indulgence, known

Listen to the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Michel-Richard Delalande, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau, and you enter a world of elegance, ornamentation and artful rhythm. Most of all, as scholar James Anthony noted, French Baroque music “speaks of

Clara Wieck Schumann was one of the nineteenth century’s greatest pianists and composers. Over the course of her remarkable career, she provided indispensable feedback to her husband Robert Schumann, as well as her lifelong friend Johannes Brahms. Her strong opinions

As a musician and composer, Edward Elgar was largely self-taught, learning through experimentation and playing in local ensembles. His music is characterised by its emotional depth, rich orchestration, and a sense of nostalgia that captures a time when the British