William Sterling

SPOTLIGHT: Music

Jan Sibelius

Nielsen and Sibelius This course involved comparing and contrasting the careers and music of two great Scandinavian contemporaries. Both were born in 1865, Sibelius gave up composing in 1931, the year of Nielsen’s death. The course was based round their magnificent symphonies but explored their whole contribution to C20th music. I ran this course at… Read more »

Frederic Chopin

Chopin and Liszt Two of the greatest ever piano composers were also great friends and had a huge influence on their contemporaries and later composers. Two of the greatest pianists of the C19th and the first great composers to emerge from their respective countries; Poland and Hungary. Their music is so familiar today it is… Read more »

Franz Schubert

Schubert’s Finale The last 18 months of Schubert’s tragically short life saw the completion of a majority of his finest works including Winterreise, the Impromptus and Moments Musicals, the last three piano sonatas, the Piano Trios, the E flat Mass, the Great C major Symphony, the Shepherd on the Rock and the String Quintet. Like… Read more »

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