In the cross-currents of history: An interview with musician and author Alberto Nones about the life and work of Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai.

April 23, 2015 · by Phillip Nones | in Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Opera | tagged Alberto Nones, Arturo Rossato, Bonporti, Diego Massa, Florent Schmitt, Francesca da Rimini, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Giulietta ew Romeo, Giuseppe Verdi, Italian Composers, Konrad Dryden, Nicola D'Atri, Opera, Riccardo Zandonai, Rossini, Tarquinia Zandonai, Villa Zandonai, Zandonai | Leave a comment

Faithful readers of this blog know that its focus is nearly 100% on the life and music of French composer Florent Schmitt. However, occasionally we “relax the routine” to present a different sort of musical topic. Back in 2013, one of those articles was an interview with the Italian pianist and author Alberto Nones about his newly published […]

French Soprano Denise Duval: Muse to Francis Poulenc … Friend of Florent Schmitt

August 19, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Choral Music, Classical Music, Composers, French Composers, Opera | tagged Chorale Elisabeth Brasseur, Classical Music, Claude Debussy, Denise Duval, Emile Vuillermoz, Florent Schmitt, Folies-Bergere, Francis Poulenc, French Music, Jean Cocteau, La Voix humaine, Maurice Ravel, Opera, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Pierre Bourgeois, Psalm 47, Psaume XLVII, Robert Ganzo | 2 Comments

A living legend today — well into her nineties — the French soprano Denise Duval is a link to France’s glorious musical past. History remembers her as the famous muse to Francis Poulenc, but Duval was also an important interpreter of the music of other significant French composers of the early- and mid-twentieth century — among […]

Giuseppe Verdi and the nexus of music and politics: An interview with author Alberto Nones.

August 9, 2014 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, Opera | tagged Alberto Nones, Ascoltando Verdi, Bizet, Carmen, Cavour, Classical Music, Florent Schmitt Blog, French Opera, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giuseppe Verdi, Giuseppina Strepponi, Italian Independence, Italian Opera, Italy, Meyerbeer, Nones, Opera, Paris Opera, Piedmont, Princeton University, Riccardo Zandonai, Risorgimento, Romantic Era, The Doors, Verdi, Vespri Siciliani, Viroli, Wagner | Leave a comment

“For Verdi, music was an integral part of reality … a force behind history …” In something of a change of pace for regular readers of the Florent Schmitt Blog, this post is on the topic of the Italian operatic composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Highly successful during his lifetime, his fame has hardly dimmed in […]