Many people believe that violinists hold the violin up with their left hands. That may have once been the case, but as violin music became more virtuosic, it became necessary that violinists’ left hands be free to move up and down the fingerboard to play different pitches. Now, violinists hold the violin against the shoulder with the weight of the head/chin resting on a chinrest. Some violinists have short necks with adequate flesh to support…

During the pandemic, our family has been binge-watching Twin Peaks. Although the show, itself, is iconic, it’s the music, written by Angelo Badalamenti, that drew my attention. Badalamenti was trained as a classical musician. He studied at the famed Eastman School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. Although Badalamenti also studied piano and French horn, he settled on composition as his main musical interest. Despite Badalamenti’s impressive musical training and diverse interests, he…

Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins is a satirical ballet chanté (sung ballet) written with German playwright Bertolt Brecht, as lyricist, in 1933, the year the composer fled Nazi Germany for Paris. The opera’s plot centers on the duality of the protagonist, Anna. Anna I is the practical opera singer, and Anna II is the freedom-seeking ballerina. In search of the American dream, Anna visits seven United States cities over seven years. And she…

Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle is a binge-worthy combination of comedy, drama, and a little romance based upon the lives of members of the fictional New York Symphony. Like most nonprofits, the New York Symphony faces seemingly unending financial concerns. Played by Bernadette Peters, orchestra president Gloria Windsor is continuously courting donors. In season 4, it appears the orchestra’s financial woes may be solved when Fukumoto Akihiro expresses interest in supporting the orchestra. Fukumoto is…

Violinist Clayton Haslop has an impressive violin pedigree. He studied with Nathan Milstein, who, in turn, studied with storied violinists Leopold Auer and Eugene Ysaye and was among a handful of top 20th century violinists. As a teenager, Haslop was in the first violin section of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. His decades-long career includes international travel as a soloist. Based in Los Angeles, he performed in hundreds of motion pictures and served as…

As the story goes, Johannes Brahms, possibly the most famous German romantic composer, had reached the “advanced age” of 57 when he decided to give up composing. Brahms had started a fifth symphony, but deeming it unsatisfactory, he tore it up and tossed it in the river. Then, he wrote his will, leaving his money to charities for needy musicians. After that, he did compose some shorter compositions, but only during the summers. He…