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World-class Ego

Of all the great composers, none had a bigger ego than Richard Wagner (pronounced Ree-card Vawg-ner). Wagner (1813-1883) was famously...

Frank Sinatra: My Way

Frank Sinatra was famous for “My Way”— the song and what it said about him. Music was personal for Sinatra. It was the one thing in his...

Master of the small statement

At the age of eight he was playing piano and composing music that your high-school music teacher could only dream of doing. It was only a...

And Tell Tchaikovsky The News

“Roll over Beethoven, and tell Tchaikovsky the news,” sang Chuck Berry in one of Rock’s classics. It seems Pyotr (that's Peter to you)...

The Three-Minute Mozart

Beatles' producer George Martin called him "The Three-Minute Mozart". He was referring to Paul McCartney, of course, and to his gift for...

Too Good For This World

Robert Schumann achieved fame in the mid-nineteenth century--after Beethoven, and before Brahms and Wagner were recognized as musical...

Living in Beethoven’s Shadow

Orchestral music had moved from the parlors of the nobility and into the public forums by the time Johannes Brahms made his mark in the...

An Embarrassment of Riches

It took a year-and-a-half of waiting in anterooms, of personal humiliations, of lobbying the government for official recognition, and of...

Mr. Tambourine Man

How does he do it? Joan Baez wanted to know. How does Bob Dylan write such folk classics as “Masters Of War” and “Only A Pawn In Their...

The Western Ranch House

The California of the 1850s that greeted the first wave of American settlers was primarily comprised of large, fenceless cattle ranches...

The California Missions

One of the most famous roads in all the world is California Route One, a coastal highway that traverses the entire length of the state. ...

Papa Haydn

It was the ultimate gig. A 30-piece orchestra at your beck and call. The run of the palace, and servants to meet your every whim. ...

Beethoven, a man of no small emotion

He’s the one who alienates half the dinner guests at your party, gets roaring drunk, makes a pass at your wife, breaks your $1,000 vase,...

The Fifth Beatle

Back in the mid-sixties, when the Beatles were hot, it seemed everyone was claiming to be "The Fifth Beatle"; in New York City, a popular...

The Girl Who Loved Jazz

How can you not love a girl who adores the Beatles, gets Frank Sinatra, loves Jazz, and who enjoys sitting under the stars at the...

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