Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
If it’s not about classical music, ballet or the violin, you’ll find it here.
Today I bid farewell to the double digits, as 99 posts shifts over to 100. An exciting moment for me – I think I need to celebrate the occasion with cake and champagne. Care to join me? But before that, care to join me in a look back on the last 100 posts? In fact, … Read more
PLUS My father just celebrated his 88th birthday and my son and I flew out to Kansas City for the family gathering. Thirty of us sang “Happy Birthday” to him and consumed cake and ice cream, but the real highlight was when we sang “Ein Prosit” together. I suppose you could call singing this German … Read more
A revised version of this appeared at Violinist.com in 2008 As the story has it, when Hungarian-born 20th century composer Franz Schmidt received the news in 1932 that his beloved daughter and only child, Emma, had died in childbirth, it was just prior to his setting to work on his Symphony no. 4 in C … Read more
Editor’s note: a decade later, here are more “birthday” and/or milestone posts to visit! The Classical Girl turns 3! https://wp.me/p3k7ov-Bj My 100th post (plus a table of contents) https://wp.me/p3k7ov-hM The Classical Girl turns 5! https://wp.me/p3k7ov-TX My 200th post, and a giveaway https://wp.me/p3k7ov-WO The Classical Girl was a concept I’d created on the eve … Read more
So, a hunt for the origins of Valentine’s Day produces a variety of conflicting stories. Allow me to share my findings. Everyone seems to agree that centuries before Valentine was ever born, a festival called Lupercalia was celebrated annually. Back in the 700’s BC, Rome was but a shepherd settlement and hungry packs of wolves prowling … Read more