The Rite of Spring was a revolutionary work for a revolutionary time. Its first performance in Paris, exactly 100 years ago on Wednesday, was a key moment in cultural history – a tumultuous scandal.
Written on the eve of the first world war and the Russian revolution, the piece is the emblem of an era of great scientific, artistic and intellectual ferment. No composer since can avoid the shadow of this great icon of the 20th century, and score after score by modern masters would be unthinkable without its model
The Liszt Sonota iPad App
What better opportunity to look at a recent iPad app, The Liszt Sonata? And, if you need further numerological justification, consider that his Sonata in B Minor turned a hundred and sixty this year: the date on the front page of Liszt’s manuscript is February 2, 1853.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Based on contemporary accounts of her music, she had talents as a composer that were fairly comparable to her brother. However, her father opposed a professional career as unsuitable for a young gentlewoman. Felix carried on this opposition after their father’s death.
Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky’s unconventional major-minor seventh chord in his arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” led to an incident with the Boston police on 15 January 1944, and he was warned that the authorities could impose a $100 fine upon any “rearrangement of the national anthem in whole or in part”.[64][65] The incident soon established itself as a myth, in which Stravinsky was supposedly arrested for playing the music.[66]