In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, E major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular

What do Queen Victoria, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Tsar Nicholas II, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and numerous others have in common? They all purchased and played instruments produced by the Leipzig piano manufacturer Blüthner. Around 1900, Blüthner was

In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, E major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular

A good part of a musician’s career is spent in a pit, an orchestra pit that is—for opera, ballet and musical theater productions. The pit—an open space beneath and in front of the stage—varies in shape and size and can

In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular affect he assigned for

Once hailed as Time magazine’s top ten cultural figures of the millennium, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) should perhaps also be known as one of the most foul-mouthed classical musicians of all time. Although the musical genius has passed away for

In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, and A major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular affect he assigned for

Dmitri Shostakovich (1905-1975) had a hard and troubled career within the political machine that was the Soviet Union. At times the model composer and at others, the reviled modernist, he moved between the extremes of popularity and marginalization. His 11th