Pachelbel’s Canon, also known as Canon in D or Canon in D Major, was written by German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel sometime in the late 1600s. His work enjoyed enormous popularity in his lifetime but soon fell out of style, until new performances of the piece in the 1970s brought it back into the … Read more
The Planets, a suite with seven movements, was written by the English composer Gustav Holst between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is meant to represent a different planet: This one, the third movement, is meant to represent the planet Mercury. Much of the video footage for this piece is taken from … Read more
The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concerti written in about 1720 by Antonio Vivaldi, an Italian Baroque composer. Each movement is intended to represent a different season. This piece is meant to evoke springtime.
Flight of the Bumblebee was written by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov around 1899, as an orchestral interlude for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. You will almost certainly recognize this energetic piece of classical music!
The Planets, a suite with seven movements, was written by the English composer Gustav Holst between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is meant to represent a different planet: This one, the second movement, is meant to represent the planet Venus. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of good footage of the … Read more
‘The Nutcracker,’ written in 1892 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is a ballet adapted from E.T.A. Hoffman’s story ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” It was not very popular when it was first published, but it has come to be considered a classic Christmas ballet which is performed all over every December. This … Read more
‘The Nutcracker,’ written in 1892 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is a ballet adapted from E.T.A. Hoffman’s story ‘The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” It was not very popular when it was first published, but it has come to be considered a classic Christmas ballet which is performed all over every December. This … Read more
Night on Bald Mountain (composed in 1886) is a famous piece of classical music by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. Unfortunately for him, his composition was never performed during his lifetime and even now is rarely played as he wrote it. This arrangement was created by the famous Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; another famous … Read more
The Maple Leaf Rag is an early ragtime classic composed by Scott Joplin. It was published in 1899 and is associated with the city of Sedalia, Missouri, possibly named after The Maple Leaf Club there.
The Entertainer is a ragtime classic written in 1902 by Scott Joplin, ‘the King of Ragtime.’ It is a very popular piece for the piano.