Jane Austen and the King of Skiffle
A folk favourite loved by Jane Austen and Abraham Lincoln, ‘The Irishman’ has revolutionary roots that have been forgotten.
Music
Death of Thomas Tallis
One of the first – and greatest – composers of English Protestant church music died on 23 November 1585.
A Musical Riot
Igor Stravinsky’s ‘shockingly contemporary’ The Rite of Spring premiered on 29 May 1913.
An Acceptable Hero
Josephine Baker’s induction into the Pantheon is both a cause for celebration and a prompt to explore France’s progressive values.
Beethoven’s 250th Symphony
As music became an art for all the people of Europe, Ludwig van Beethoven, born 250 years ago this year, became the hero and the symbol of an aspiring German nation.
The Opening of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House
The Met opened its doors on 22 October 1883.
The Music of the Napoleonic Era
The power and perils of reconstructing the music of Napoleon's time.
The Lost Classics
Though originally set to music, we almost always encounter the Ancient Greek epics as mute texts. But now their songs can be heard again.
Slips of the Tongue
Historians set great store by what people heard in the past, but what about those things they misheard?
Birth of Antoine-Joseph ‘Adolphe’ Sax
The inventor of the saxotromba, saxhorn, saxtuba and saxophone was born on 6 November 1814.