Composers

This year marks the 333rd anniversary of J.S. Bach's birth

Are Classical Music Performances Speeding Up?

For Johann Sebastian Bach's 333rd birthday, a team looked at recordings of the composer's work over the last 50 years

'The Nutcracker' is performed across North America each Christmas season.

How 1950s America Shaped ‘The Nutcracker’

It took the marketing insight of a Russian choreographer to make it all happen

Chopin at 25, by his fiancée Maria Wodzińska.

Chopin’s Preserved Heart May Offer Clues About His Death

Scientists who recently examined the organ have suggested that Chopin died of complications from tuberculosis

Elmar Juchem, Managing Editor of the Kurt Weill Edition, was able to identify Kurt Weill's manuscript while doing archival work in Berlin.

Composer Kurt Weill's Long-Forgotten “Song of the White Cheese" Discovered in Berlin Archive

Listen to the 1931 ditty, which had gone unnoticed in the collection of a little-known actress

Sousa around 1915, about a decade after he first decried "mechanical music."

John Philip Sousa Feared ‘The Menace of Mechanical Music’

Wonder what he’d say about Spotify

J. Ralph (left) and Sting (right), the night's honorees. Visible in the foreground is Sting's 1978 Stratocaster guitar, which is now a part of the Smithsonian collections.

Acclaimed Musicians Sting and J. Ralph Spread Social Justice Through Song

The Smithsonian honors two composers whose work and philanthropy are inextricably linked

A page from Holst's lost "Folk Songs From Somerset"

Lost Manuscripts From Composer of “The Planets” Found in New Zealand

No one is sure how the handwritten scores by Gustav Holst ended up in the archives of the Bay of Plenty Symphonia

Glad tidings! There's a new Christmas song in town.

Researchers Found a Long-Lost Christmas Song

"Crown Winter With Green" has some serious archival cred—and a sad story to tell

Listen to This Holly, Jolly (and a Little Creepy) A.I.-Penned Christmas Song

A neural network at the University of Toronto wrote a holiday ditty based on an image of a Christmas tree

Alaska's yellow-cedar forests are slowly dying as climate change takes root.

This Music Was Composed by Climate Change

Dying forests make magnificently melancholy listening

The hate crime that killed Matthew Shepard was the impetus for a new choral work.

A New Choral Work Was Inspired by the Death of Matthew Shepard

“Considering Matthew Shepard” finds hope inside a story of hate

Avi Avital is the featured performer in "InstaConcerto for Mandolin and Orchestra," a 75-second concerto written for Instagram.

This Classical Mandolinist Makes Music With...Instagram?

“InstaConcerto for Mandolin and Orchestra” plays with a genre known more for its selfies than its chamber music

Portrait of composer Barbara Strozzi (1581-1644)

These Women Composers Should Be Household Names Like Bach or Mozart

Denied the same opportunities as their male counterparts, women like Lili Boulanger and Clara Schumann found ways to get their work in front of audiences

Ennio Morricone, "Il Maestro"

Travel the World With Ennio Morricone's Evocative Film Scores

Celebrate the maestro's first Oscar with a musical trip across the continents

Did ADHD Play a Role in George Gershwin’s Eclectic Style?

The composer himself seemed to see a link between his restlessness and his art

Mozart and Salieri—rivals or BFFs?

A German Composer Uncovered a Collaboration Between Mozart and Salieri

Their epic rivalry might not have been all that

"I think this thing will make Beethoven," Disney once said.

Disney's "Fantasia" Was Initially a Critical and Box-Office Failure

More than seventy-five years after its debut, a look back at the animated masterpiece

Russia Wants Rachmaninoff’s Remains Back

Should a composer who abandoned his home forever be returned there 72 years after his death?

This bronze portrait bust of German composer Richard Wagner, sculptured by artist Arno Breker, resides in Bayreuth, Germany, home of the annual festival honoring his work.

The Brilliant, Troubled Legacy of Richard Wagner

As the faithful flock to the Bayreuth Festival in his bicentennial year, the spellbinding German composer continues to fascinate, inspire and infuriate

Leopold Mozart, right, boasted how well his daughter played the piano in a letter in 1764. She was quickly overshadowed by her brother Wolfgang.

Maria Anna Mozart: The Family’s First Prodigy

She was considered to be one of the finest pianists in Europe, until her younger brother Wolfgang came along

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