The Mannheim school The expression Mannheim school refers both to an orchestra, which was based in the southwest German city of Mannheim, and to their musical innovations in instrumental music. The orchestra was under the patronage of art loving Elector Duke Karl Theodor (reigned 1743–99). Many contemporary visitors to Mannheim were amazed by the excellence of the local orchestra, which …
Count Waldstein, a German nobleman and patron of arts, in March of 1791 during Bonn’s Carnival season, organized an event for which he needed a ballet play. The Count was the most influential early supporter of young Beethoven. He was a lover of music and arts, an amateur pianist and composer. His initial idea was to commission a ballet music, …
Beethoven was seventeen when he met Count Waldstein in Bonn and already had admirers in the city, but no one came close to the influential, generous and musically sophisticated Waldstein. This article reveals how the Count influenced the fate of Beethoven. A short biography of Count Waldstein Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein was born in Vienna in 1762 …
The Flow is a psychological term we use often. Although, it became popular in the past decades this state of mind is not new to humans. Buddhism and Daoism, under different name have this concept for thousands of years. What is it exactly and what evidence we have that Beethoven was familiar with the flow? What is the Flow? In …
No other city has such rich history in music like Vienna does! What was the city like when Beethoven arrived as a young man? How could a musician make a living? Let’s find out! At the end of the 18th century opera was the main attraction in Vienna. After the death of Joseph II. who was a great …
In this article we take a short journey in the history of opera discovering the roots and the development of this art form. Opera in Italy The word opera comes from the Italian phrase opera in musica – work in music. The name represents all the efforts that build up an opera. The text (libretto, booklet), the music itself, …