The aristocratic women close to Beethoven were all remarkable in their own unique ways. Antonie Brentano, one of the suggested recipients of the mysterious Immortal Beloved letter, dedicated much of her time to philanthropy, setting up charities and working with the poor in Frankfurt. Antonie was also a significant cultural figure, promoting the arts in the city. During her time …
Josephine’s tale is a tragic, yet familiar story of love and marriage in an era of strict social constraints, often with devastating consequences. One cannot help but feel for the gentle Josephine, who was trapped by societal expectations, and the passionate, deeply sensitive man, who yearned for her loving comfort. In this article, we will introduce Josephine, one possible claimant …
In the first article on printing the focus was on printing in general, on the history and the techniques. In this second part we turn our attention to a more specific area, on printing music and music publishing. In the last part of this article there is a complete list and short history of each music publisher that were in …
Printing: a process of reproducing text or an image on paper or other materials through various techniques. Sounds simple, but its evolution has had far-reaching consequences. The history of printing is a remarkable human journey that has profoundly contributed to, and influenced human communication, knowledge distribution and consequently to the development of societies and humanity in general. In a …
How in the name of science Haydn’s head was stolen from his grave One of the customs that makes humans special in animal kingdom is the custom of burial or ceremony to say goodbye to the deceased. In fact, burial ceremonies and the traditions of afterlife are very much telling about the age, religion and social structure of a certain …
Every July (14th July) France celebrates its Fête nationale française, the French National Holiday. In English-speaking countries the Bastille Day (since 1789). It is the day of the storming of the Bastille, a major event during the French Revolution. Like so many social changes in history this one also was rooted in economic crisis, or hunger being the name on …