Coming up: 29th July – 4th August

Classicalis
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Flautist playing flute
Photo of flautist playing her flute from Pixabay

Welcome back to Classicalis!  Our featured female composer this week is Elfrida Andrée, who was the first woman in Sweden to graduate as an organist and to become a cathedral organist.  Alongside her pieces are pieces by Léo Delibes, Émile Waldteufel, Simeon Ten Holt, Jean-Phillipe Rameau and Arcangelo Corelli, none of whom I had heard of before! I had certainly heard of Johann Strauss II (called on this site Johann Strauss Jr), and I had certainly heard his waltz “The Beautiful Blue Danube” or “An der schönen, blauen Donau” played countless times, as most people in the West will have done.  However, once again, this was the first time I was able to put a name to the music!  The featured British composer of the week is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who is particularly noteworthy among the above composers because of his joint British and African heritage.

Also noteworthy is a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by the violinist Alexandra Conunova.  Even in the sea of musical brilliance represented on this site, even on a piece that we have all heard countless times her energy, musical enunciation and sheer technical excellence are absolutely breathtaking. Utterly superlative!

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