More Celebration of the Music of Giuseppi Fortunino Frencesco Verdi! (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) Lastly and not leastly is his exquisite “Va, pensiore!” Chorus from Nabucco (1842), the opera that put Verdi on the map: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vORB...

More Celebration of the Music of Giuseppi Fortunino Frencesco Verdi! (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) … and his indomitable Dies irae from his Requiem (1874), with its spine-tingling Last Trump[et]: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHw4...

Celebrating the Music of Giuseppi Fortunino Frencesco Verdi! (October 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901) Italian composer. Here’s his absolutely melting, soaring, beautiful Ave Maria from his Quattro pezzi sacri (1889): www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzoX...

Celebrating the Music of Gloria Coates! (October 10, 1938 – August 19, 2023) American composer. Here is the second movement, Mirror Manifold, from her orchestral poem Holographic Universe – it’s beautiful as well as chilling: youtu.be/_YXusTwfP7w?...

Celebrating the Music of Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns! (October 9, 1835 – December 16, 1921) French composer and polymath. Here, The Swan from his The Carnival of the Animals, with Ogden Nash’s rhyme (added around 1950) recited by a bespectacled James Bond: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvh4...

More Celebration of the Music of Gustav Theodore Holst! (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) IHere’s his not-terribly-well known, and absolutely beautiful, Invocation for Cello and Orchestra: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBdX...

More Celebration of the Music of Gustav Theodore Holst! (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) This is the piece that probably influenced more sci-fi movie scores than any other music in history, from The Planets: Movement 1: Mars – The Bringer of War: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

More Celebration of the Music of Gustav Theodore Holst! (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) Here’s a very seldom performed work, his Double Violin Concerto, and the second movement, Lament, is a piece of mystical forlornness and beauty: youtu.be/kzGhbK2M760?...

Celebrating the Music of Gustav Theodore Holst! (September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934) English composer, Holst wrote more music than just his breakthrough The Planets. Here is his wonderful Chaconne, from his brilliant First Suite for Military Band in E-flat. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Uuno Kalervo Klami! (September 20, 1900 – May 29, 1961) Finnish composer. His Tranquillo is somber and elegiac – speaking volumes with just a few, poignant motives. Suite for String Orchestra (1937): III. Tranquillo: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kt-...

Celebrating the Music of Jan Mul! (September 20, 1911 – December 30, 1971) Dutch composer, organist and conductor. His Miserere mihi of 1935 is beautiful and rich. Miserere mihi (1935) www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tz6...

Celebrating the Music of Karen Khachaturian! (September 19, 1920 – July 19, 2011) Russian/Armenian composer (the nephew of the more well-known Aram Khachaturian). Here, his Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, Op. 1: II. Andante: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmY...

More Celebration of the Music of Kassia! (c. 810 – c. 843/867?) Equally lovely and dreamy as her “Ek Rizis Agathis,” posted earlier today, here is Kassia’s “Petron ke Pavlon”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQI7...

Celebrating the Music of Kassia! (c. 810 – c. 843/867?) Greek composer - Here is her Ek Rizis Agathis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_k3...

More Celebration of the Music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes! (September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) Another impressionistic, and wistfully lyrical gem, from this underrated composer: Dirge, from his The Kairn of Koridwen: youtu.be/I-Jsfe1a58E?...

Celebrating the Music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes! (September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) American composer. Here’s Griffes’s superb tone poem, The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8 (be sure to make it to the pounding drums, starting at about 8:38): www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSbq...

Celebrating the Music of Nadia Boulanger! (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) French pianist, teacher, organist, conductor and composer. Here is a beautiful song (music and text) by Boulanger, c. 1915: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

More Celebration of the Music of Hildegard von Bingen! (c. 1098 – September 17, 1179) … even nicer examples of Hildegard’s melismatic, mystic, and meditative melodies. O frondens virga – [beautifully sung by the men’s(!!) group, Chanticleer] (TYO!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGXX...

Celebrating the Music of Hildegard von Bingen! (c. 1098 – September 17, 1179) German composer and Benedictine abbess. Kyrie Eleison from Marriage of the Heavens and the Earth (O Ecclesia): www.youtube.com/watch?app=de... [beautifully sung by music historian Catherine Braslavsky] (TY,O!)

Celebrating the Music of Horatio Parker! (September 15, 1863 – December 18, 1919) American composer and teacher. Here is an excerpt from his first important Cantata of 1893: Hora Novissima: Introduction and Chorus www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Johann Michael Haydn! (September 14, 1737 – August 10, 1806) Austrian composer Michael Haydn was Franz Josef Haydn's younger brother. Here is his Kyrie from his Missa Tempore Quadragesimae (MH 553) for choir and basso continuo, 1794: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Josquin des Pres (c. 1450 – August 27, 1521) French Renaissance composer. Here is a Mille regretz – cornetto [Bruce Dickey] and organ www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

More Celebration of the Music of Clara Wieck-Schumann! (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896) …here is her exquisite Andante from her Piano Trio in G minor, Op.17 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf-p...

More Celebration of the Music of Arnold Schoenberg! (September 13, 1874 – July 13, 1951) … a fully-fledged 12-tone work ... impeccable musical logic is completely evident, at times wistful, at times beautiful: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 (1927). II. Adagio www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW0B...

Celebrating the Music of Arnold Schoenberg! (September 13, 1874 – July 13, 1951) Austrian composer and teacher. Here is one of his little known tonal works: Friede Auf Erden, Op. 13 (1911) www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Clara Wieck-Schumann! (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896) German piano virtuoso and composer (married Robert Schumann). Here an exquisite Nocturne, from “Soirées musicales,” that Clara wrote in 1836: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of, and Happy Birthday to, Arvo Pärt! (September 11, 1935 – ) Estonian composer. Here is Pärt’s intriguing, quiet and moving first movement, “1. Ludus,” to his Tabula rasa – Concerto for 2 violins (or with viola), prepared piano & strings(1977): www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of William Boyce! (September 11, 1711 – February 7, 1779) British composer. Here's Boyce’s lovely Symphony No. 1 is given here in its entirety – which is only 6-7 minutes long, typically. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhAw...

Celebrating the Music of Countess Maria Theodora Paulina (Dora) Pejačević! (September 10, 1885 – March 5, 1923) Croatian, of Hungarian lineage, composer and violinist. Here, her Andante Sostenuto from her gorgeous Sonata for Piano and Cello (1913): youtu.be/-chTjgzSkQs?...

Celebrating the Music of Henry Purcell! (c. 1659 – November 21, 1695) English composer, organist. This quiet and beautiful meditation, “Thou knowest, Lord,” composed for the funeral of Queen Mary II, has been accompanying centuries of funerals at Westminster Abbey. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

More Celebration of the Music of Girolamo Frescobaldi! (September 9 (possibly 13), 1583 – March 1, 1643) … and here is an absolutely beautiful work for voice and instrumental accompaniment: Se l’aura spira www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V0-...

Celebrating the Music of Girolamo Frescobaldi! (September 9 (or 13), 1583 – March 1, 1643) Italian composer bridged that magical musical gap between Late Renaissance and Early Baroque music making. Here is his exquisite Toccata seconda: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Andre Jolivet! (August 8, 1905 – December 20, 1974) French teacher and composer. Here is a manic, briskly fun movement from his 1958 Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (Movement III): youtu.be/mx8tdnDckzU?...

Celebrating the Music of Maria Luigi Cherubini! (September 8, 1760 – March 15, 1842) Italian composer in Paris. Here is a very lovely, inventive, chock-full of great melody, overture to Cherubini’s opera-ballet Anacreon (1803): www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

More Celebration of the Music of Antonín Dvořák! (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) … the famous, beautiful, soulful Largo from his “New World” Symphony shouldn’t be passed over: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCxE...

Celebrating the Music of Antonín Dvořák! (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) Bohemian (Czech) composer. Here is his delightful Andante con moto, the third movement from his Serenade for Wind Instruments (and Cello and Double Bass), Op. 44: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of, and Happy Birthday to, Romualds Kalsons! (September 7, 1936 - ) Latvian composer and conductor. His works are infinitely listenable. Here is his fun, frisky and foot-flinging “Tango:” www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Joan Tower! (September 6, 1938 - ) American composer, pianist and teacher. Here is her very popular Fanfare for the Uncommon Women (The first of six, and clearly inspired by Copland’s Fanfare – gutsy!): www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Yevgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov! September 6, 1928 – May 3, 2002) Russian conductor, pianist and composer. Here is his wonderful Rhapsody No. 2 which features these exquisite, extended cadenzas for several instruments: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Sigismondo d’India! (c. 1582 – (before) April 19, 1629) Italian composer. Especially evocative were his highly chromatic works, here, his Dilectus meus: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLFf...

More Celebration of the Music of Amy Beach! (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) Her writing for orchestra was also exceptional. Here, the lovely second movement, Alla siciliana, from her path-breaking/break-through, Symphony in E-minor, Op.32 “Gaelic” (1896): youtu.be/VmLU1CfHcJw?...

Celebrating the Music of Amy Beach! (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) American composer and piano virtuoso. Here’s a mesmerizing piano work from this still underrated composer, Beach’s “Dreaming” from her Four Sketches for Piano, Op. 15, No. 3, (1897): www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Johann Christian Bach! (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) German composer Johann Christian Bach was the 18th child of Johann Sebastian. Here is an andante from JC Bach’s Symphony in G-minor, Op.6, No.6 – Movement 2. Andante piu tosto adagio: youtu.be/ZCr0l_0Gkno?...

More Celebration of the Music of Anton Bruckner! (September 4, 1824 – September 11, 1896) Here is his last Symphonic effort – excerpt from Movement 1 of his unfinished Symphony No, 9: youtu.be/Ee4xzb5uvpI?... #Bruckner

More Celebration of the Music of Anton Bruckner! (September 4, 1824 – September 11, 1896) Endlessly inventive, listen to the opening of Bruckner’s Third Symphony: www.youtube.com/watch?v=safC...

Celebrating the Music of Anton Bruckner! (September 4, 1824 – September 11, 1896) Austrian composer. Here, first, is Bruckner’s incomparable Mass No. 3’s Agnus Dei – filled with awe-inspired beauty: Mass No. 3 in F minor – Agnus Dei www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Otto Ketting! (September 3, 1935 – December 13, 2012) Dutch composer. Always inventive and prolific, the finale to his Symphony No. 6 (2011) is intriguing and exciting (begin at 38:17 … and there’s no mistaking its allusions to Ravel’s Bolero): youtu.be/EcI1qUsVyQI?...

Celebrating the Music of Miloslav Ištvan! (September 2, 1928 – January 26, 1990) Czech composer Here, “Games” for Orchestra (1977) shows how Ištvan has conceived of sounds changing color as they undulate through lots of orchestral instruments: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

Celebrating the Music of Johann Pachelbel! (baptized September 1, 1653 – buried March 9, 1706) German organist, teacher and composer. Here’s one of Pachelbel’s great works: Chaconne in D minor (late 1600’s) www.youtube.com/watch?app=de... #Pachelbel

More Celebration of the Music of Jean-Paul Egide (Martin) Martini! (August 31, 1741 – February 14, 1816) Here, the truly amazing Dies irae from his Requiem, written the year of his own death (1816): Messe de requiem pour Louis XVI et Marie-Antoinette www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...