Do the celebrations to commemorate the anniversaries of the composers make sense? The question arises with every enthusiastic celebration or with every birthday that goes unnoticed, that is, every year. It's assumed that, beyond paying homage to the composer and enjoying his music, the anniversaries should serve to disseminate his work, and some perspective is required to know if the aim was achieved. For example, the commemoration of 100th anniversary of Schubert's death in 1928 meant a major review of his figure and work. At the end of the century [...]

Among the many good things Brahms did, there is the edition of Schubert's works which, forty years after his death, remained still in a drawer. For instance, the Zwölf Ländler, a collection of twelve waltzes composed in 1823 and catalogued by Otto Deutsch as D. 790, published by Brahms in 1864. In 1866, the composer published his Sechszehn Walzer, Op. 39, a collection of waltzes for piano four-hands. The edition was a sales success. The pieces were charming, the four-hand format was ideal for Hausmusik, that's to say, music to be played in gatherings in the home [...]

This week I wanted to present a new cycle, but I was short of time. I might have shortened the article and written two rushed paragraphs, but I don't think that the composer, my dear Brahms, deserves this. So I thought I'd share a sample of the cycle and some notes and come back calmly next week, if all goes well.

The texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn can explain both a story or the horrors of war; speak ironically about a miracle or expressing a deep spirituality. This is the case with Urlicht. We don't know who wrote it, nor if it was eventually modified until the form we know thanks to Brentano and Arnim, but we can assume that this anonymous (and maybe collective) author was familiar with the gospels and Catholic rites.

On 23 November 1938, Alexander Nevsky, a film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, was successfully premiered in Moscow. The film recreated an episode that took place in Novgorod in the 13th century: an army composed mostly of peasants achieve the victory over the foreign invader, an army mostly of knights. As if this were not enough, the final battle was fought over the ice of Lake Peipus and, as you can imagine, Eisenstein didn't miss the opportunity of filming an epic scene.