In June 1825, Schubert received a letter from his father explaining that his family knew he was doing well, but nevertheless, they regretted not hearing from him; He and his mother (actually, his father’s second wife) asked him to write and explain how things were going for him. He answered a month and a half later, but at least, he wrote a long letter. Among other things he explained that his latest songs on texts by Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake were warmly accepted, and many people were surprised at his piety in Ellens Gesang III, the hymn to the Holy Virgin. He made an interesting remark: "I believe that this comes of [...]

I don't remember if I ever asked you about your favourite Lied (or Lieder) by Schubert; if you want to share it (or them) today, please, go ahead! After some conversations here and there, given the devotion with which it's performed and the silence with which it's listened, after reading so many references that qualify it between masterpiece and perfection, I have little doubt that the Lied we will hear today is among the most beloved.

Same title, different songs. That's not unusual with Schubert's songs, a name can be shared by two (or three, or four) songs. In those cases, it often happens that one of the songs becomes "the other one". Let's try: Ständchen. Did you think of this gorgeous song from Schwanengesang? Well, I was referring to the other Ständchen, our song today.

During the first decades of the 19th century, translations of many works by Shakespeare were published, they had been descovered not long ago by the best-informed circles; [...]

Verdun, the Ardennes, the Marne, the Somme, Ypres, Gallipoli. Four years. Seventy million soldiers, eight million casualties, two million went missing, twenty million injured. Minefields. Hundreds of miles of trenches in a sea of mud. Next Sunday we will commemorate the centenary of the end of a war that bled Europe.

Guillaume Apollinaire wanted to join the army as soon as the war broke out, but he wasn't admitted because he wasn't French (he was born in Rome of Polish descent). He didn't give up and commenced proceedings to obtain his French nationality; Finally, in April 1915 [...]

A rispetto is a Tuscan poetic form, usually composed of six or eight hendecasyllabic verses, although the extension may vary between four and ten lines. A Rispetto talks about love, it's a respectful greeting (hence the name) to the loved one. The form spread during the thirteenth century and reached its peak during the second half of the fifteenth century, when it was widely cultivated by Angelo Poliziano and, to a lesser extent, by Lorenzo de' Medici.