Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchPenderecki's Threnody: How 52 Strings Became the Sound of Dread
Episode 10297
In 1961, a 28-year-old Polish composer named Krzysztof Penderecki wrote a piece for 52 string instruments and titled it simply 8'37", its running tim…
1 week, 1 day ago
Giuseppe Tartini: The Devil's Trill, a Fugitive, and the Third Sound
Episode 10296
Giuseppe Tartini claimed the devil appeared in a dream and played a sonata so beautiful he spent the rest of his life trying to capture it. Born in 1…
1 week, 1 day ago
Enrico Caruso: The Tenor Who Became the First Global Recording Star
Episode 10295
Enrico Caruso fled the 1906 San Francisco earthquake clutching an autographed photo of Theodore Roosevelt, stopped for bacon and eggs, and used the p…
1 week, 1 day ago
Ennio Morricone: Whips, Whistles, and the Sound of the Spaghetti Western
Episode 10294
Ennio Morricone composed over 400 film and television scores and more than 100 classical works, and he did it without ever moving to Hollywood. Born …
1 week, 1 day ago
Edvard Grieg: The Norwegian Composer Who Hated His Biggest Hit
Episode 10293
Edvard Grieg wrote In the Hall of the Mountain King as a satirical parody of Norwegian folklore and privately confessed he could not stand listening …
1 week, 1 day ago
Domenico Scarlatti: 555 Sonatas and a Creative Peak After 67
Episode 10292
In 1709, two 24-year-olds faced off in a Roman palace: Domenico Scarlatti won on harpsichord, Handel on organ, and Scarlatti reportedly crossed himse…
1 week, 1 day ago
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Music Too Fast for Human Hands
Episode 10291
Conlon Nancarrow wrote music no human could play, so he bypassed the performer entirely and spent decades in Mexico City punching holes into player p…
1 week, 1 day ago
Claudio Abbado: The Conductor Who Led by Listening, Not Shouting
Episode 10290
In January 2014, thousands stood in silence outside La Scala while Daniel Barenboim conducted Beethoven's funeral march to an empty hall, mourning Cl…
1 week, 1 day ago
Claude Debussy: Scandal, Rebellion, and the Birth of Modern Music
Episode 10289
The music of Claude Debussy suggests serenity, but the man behind it was a rebel whose personal choices led to a shooting in the Place de la Concorde…
1 week, 1 day ago
Clara Rockmore: The Violin Prodigy Who Mastered the Theremin
Episode 10288
Clara Rockmore was admitted to the St. Petersburg Conservatory at age four, studying violin under Leopold Auer before her family fled the Russian Rev…
1 week, 1 day ago