Cocktail Party Fact: Composer Tchaikovsky lived to see only the first production of Swan Lake, which was generally considered to be a bomb. When he died in 1893, he missed by just two years the revival that carved a permanent place for the ballet in dance history.
Here’s the plot: Act I: It is Prince Siegfried’s [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Composer Tchaikovsky lived to see only the first production Swan Lake, which was generally considered to be a bomb. When he died in 1893, he missed by just two years the revival that carved a permanent place for the ballet in dance history.
Here’s the plot: Act I: It is Prince Siegfried’s coming [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: “Pathetique” does NOT mean “pathetic,” but rather moody and dramatic.
Commitment Factor: About 45 -50 minutes
Vital Statistics: Late Romantic Period (1893). A four-movement symphony that ends, very unconventionally, with a slow movement expressing complete, helpless despair.
What to Listen For: There is a touch of cyclical form here. If you listen carefully, you might [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Tchaikovsky always hated his most recent work–none more so that this, his most popular symphony. He called it “artificial” and “repellent.” Fortunately, no one else paid attention.
Commitment Factor: About 50 minutes
Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1887). A four-movement symphony with a “motto” theme that returns in each movement.
What to Listen For: The [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This symphony was composed as recovery therapy following a rather half-hearted suicide attempt. A tormented homosexual, Tchaikovsky foolishly married a neurotic music student he hardly knew, then tried to kill himself by standing naked in the Volga river in mid-winter. His wife, whom he never divorced, went crazy and died in an [...]

Active Years: 1813-1883
Position: Opera Composer
Career Highlights: Der Fliegande Hollander, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, The Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Der Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Parsifal.
Career Totals: 13 operas
Scouting Report: Among the top composers of all time, Wagner strove to create a German myth in opera. Writing his own libretti, he extensively utilized the ‘lietmotiv’ (re occurring themes for [...]

Active Years: 1840-1893
Position: Russian composer.
Career Highlights: Symphony Pathetique, Piano Concerto No. 1, 1812 Overture, and Swan Lake.
Career Totals: 11 operas, 3 ballets, 6 symphonies and dozens of other orchestra works, several concertos, miscellaneous chamber music, scores of piano pieces, and over 100 songs.
Scouting Report: Tchaikovsky’s music is known for its’ beautiful melodies, brilliant instrumental writing, [...]

Active Years: 1873-1943
Position: Russian composer, pianist and conductor
Career Highlights: Rachmaninoff is best known for his piano pieces.
Career Totals: Rachmaninoff wrote 77 songs, 3 symphonies and other orchestral works, 3 operas, 4 piano concertos, dozens of solo piano pieces, and a variety of chamber music works.
Scouting Report: Born a rich kid from a powerful and distinguished [...]

Active Years: 1865-1904 (born 1841)
Position: Czech composer
Career Highlights: “New World” Symphony, Cello Concerto, Piano Quintet in A, “Dumky” Piano Trio, Rusalka, Stabat Mater, String Quintet in E Flat, “American” string quartet.
Career Totals: 9 Symphonies, 3 concertos, 14 operas, 3 string quintets, 14 string quartets, 2 piano quartets, 2 piano quintets, 6 piano trios, 2 masses, [...]