The choice of word ‘recognized’ is very important here! By all means, to answer the question truthfully, we have to imagine a very different world compared to the one we live in today. Today, we have celebrities, which in other words means high visibility in the media. We may find famous people, as well, they are not necessarily visible, but …
Beethoven was one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Not easy to point to only one achievement from his life. Becoming deaf and still composing wonderful music sounds difficult enough! One could argue his music was the best, but how can we stay objective and impartial in the question of beauty… Rather, one can turn to facts, like historical …
Beethoven was on the move. Always. He had dozens of residences during his lifetime, sometimes as a guest, sometimes his own rent. Among the many, probably the most famous is the one, where he passed away on March 26th, 1827. The house was called Schwarzspanierhaus, meaning black Spanish house. Today, the exact address is Schwarzspanierstraße 15, 1090 Vienna. Beethoven used …
Biography of Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer and string player. More than anybody, he represents the transition from Renaissance music to Baroque, and was the forerunner in developing the opera as a new genre. Monteverdi was born in Cremona, in 1567. His father was a barber-surgeon and …
In this article we remember the special occasion, when young Franz Liszt was introduced to Beethoven. This account was given by Liszt himself many decades later, in 1875. Who was Franz Liszt? Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian pianist composer, born in Doborján (Raiding, in German) in Sopron County, in the Kingdom of Hungary, …
We continue our journey in the history of music theories, this time focusing on the great Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Who was Aristotle? Aristotle (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher in ancient Greece, during the classical period. He covered various subjects from politics to music, from logic to ethics, from biology to government. It is impossible to make even an estimation …