These days, thankfully, composing is much less of a ‘boys only’ occupation than it used to be. Some of the greatest recent and living composers have been and are women, including figures such as Kaaija Saariaho, Judith Weir, Helen Grime, Errollyn Wallen, Olga Neuwirth, Unsuk Chin and Rebecca Saunders. There are many, many others….
It was not always this way. Though women were never officially banned from composing, the traditional view of women as mothers and home-makers meant that there was not much encouragement either. These attitudes often meant that those who did compose were limited to writing in more ‘lady-like’ forms such as art songs and characteristic piano pieces. Longer forms and especially works for orchestra were not considered appropriate for women.
Despite all this, and often with considerable courage and determination, some women were able to forge a path as composers. Here are some, but by no means all, of the greatest.
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It sold more than a million copies on its release in 1962, becoming one of Elvis Presley’s greatest hits—the piece he reserved for the final climax of live concerts. And it remains popular to this day, a survey in 2020, for example, finding I Can't Help Falling in Love to be one of the most frequently used pieces for the first dance of newly married couples.
Despite its association with The King of Rock and Roll, however, its composition dates back to the 18th century and a little known composer named Jean-Paul-Égide Martini…
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Any attempt to pick a definitive list of the best ever symphonies is, let’s face it, doomed to failure. Debate is inevitably dominated by taste, with some people simply preferring the sound of Mozart to Mahler; Beethoven to Brahms; Schubert to Shostakovich.
So though making this list might be controversial, it is fun and not totally without merit—we might not have got it totally right, but all the works included are certainly brilliant.
We have also highlighted the best melodies from them, with links to our exclusive arrangements of these tunes, so you can experience and play these pieces yourself.
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The modern concert band, with its colourful range of woodwind and brass instruments, not to mention well-stocked percussion section, is a relatively recent invention—many of the instruments that now are commonly found in it had barely been invented, let alone incorporated into it, before the twentieth century.
But that is not to say that there was no wind band music before this time—the tradition for writing for winds is an old and venerable one. Here is a brief history of that tradition, told through its greatest pieces.
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A lullaby (‘berceuse’ in French, ‘wiegenlied’ in German) is traditionally a soothing song for infants, especially to help them to sleep. It is one of the loveliest of musical forms, with an emphasis on simple, gentle melodies and equally simple harmony. There are many traditional lullabies, but the form has also been widely adopted by classical composers, where it has sometimes been greatly expanded in scope, whilst not losing contact with its musical roots.
Here are some of the loveliest lullabies ever to have been written, complete with links to the sheet music.
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The unkind butt of many a musical joke, the viola sometimes gets a bad press. But we think it’s one of the loveliest instruments in the orchestra—in its upper range almost as brilliant as the violin, it’s lower range utterly distinct: veiled, melancholic and mysterious.
Its role in the centre of an ensemble means that it hasn’t attracted so much of the limelight as a solo instrument down the years, but there are, nevertheless, some really wonderful works written for it. Here are five of the best.
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From Freddie Mercury to Billy Joel, Brian Wilson to Kate Bush, any number of pop musicians have been inspired by classical music. Some, however, have taken their fascination to the next level by making covers of their favourite classical works.
Here are some of the most epic examples of pop music composers paying homage to great works of the classical canon.
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Down the centuries brass instruments have been the poor relation to strings and woodwind when it comes to ensemble music. Whilst there is a vast repertoire of chamber music for strings, and a fair amount that includes woodwind or is for woodwind specifically, many composers ignored the possibility of writing for brass ensemble, partly because for a long time brass instruments were plagued by technical limitations.
Despite this there are a handful of truly great ensemble works that were written for brass, or for precursors of modern brass instruments. Here are some of our favourites.
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Chopin’s funeral march (‘Marche funèbre’) forms the second part of his Piano Sonata No.2 in B♭minor, published in 1840. Though it is one of the most important works in the piano literature, it is also one of the most controversial— Robert Schumann describing it as ‘four of [the] maddest children under the same roof.’ Here is the story of what some consider to be Chopin’s most uneven masterpiece.
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Few pieces of classical music are as instantly recognisable as Johann Strauss II’s dazzling Blue Danube Waltz. Its mysterious shimmering opening and elegant main melody take us effortlessly into the carefree world of Viennese balls, where dazzlingly clad and carefree couples move gracefully over the dance floor.
The story behind this graceful waltz is not, however, as straightforward as its sparkling surface might suggest—the piece was actually written as a response to the horror of war and military defeat and, despite the familiarity of the orchestral version of this piece, it was originally conceived as a choral work.
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