Jos van de Braak

Die Zauberflöte isn't a romantic love story but a real parable: a resemblance about higher human striving to purity and self-improvement. Not love between two people is in the centre but a more indivi...

Die lustige Witwe, composed by Franz Franz Lehar is one of the absolute highlights in the whole operetta-repertoire. The duet Lippen schweigen - Love unspoken - is a waltz in a very romantic mood sung...

The Oratorio de NoÙl, opus 112 was composed in 1858 and is one of the four oratorios he wrote.It is scored for five soloists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) four-part mixed choir, s...

The Oratorio de NoÙl, opus 112 was composed in 1858 and is one of the four oratorios he wrote.It is scored for five soloists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) four-part mixed choir, s...

Until nowadays, La Traviata is still one of the most successful operas in the music-literature. Giuseppe Verdi composed this opera in 1853 and it belongs to the top of Giuseppe Verdi's middle period o...

Despite its title Kodaly's Dances of Galanta is not so much a dance-suite as a symphonic poem.The dances in this piece are derived from the 18th-century Verbunkos, a characteristic Hungarian dance of...

Until nowadays, La Traviata is still one of the most successful opera's in the music-literature. Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi composed this opera in 1853 and it belongs to the top of Giuseppe Verdi's middl...

Until nowadays, La Traviata is still one of the most successful opera's in the music-literature. Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi composed this opera in 1853 and it belongs to the top of Giuseppe Verdi's middl...

The Coronation Mass of March 1779 is said to have been composed for the coronation of an image of the Virgin in the church of Maria Plain near Salzburg, though there is no evidence to support this. In...

Joseph Joseph Haydn's (1732-1809) last solo concerto was composed to help with an experiment: in an effort to break through the Trumpet's limitations Anton Weidinger - a Trumpeter of the Vienna Court...

Joseph Joseph Haydn's (1732-1809) last solo concerto was composed to help with an experiment: in an effort to break through the Trumpet's limitations Anton Weidinger - a Trumpeter of the Vienna Court...

The aria Stride la vampa - blazing flames - is sung by the gipsy woman Azucena in the second act of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore whilst she is staring into the campfire and telling the story of...

Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), the greatest Italian opera-composer, composed his opera La Forza del Destino in 1862. The 'ronda' Compagni, Sostiamo is sung in the third act: a Spanish military c...

Giuseppe Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), the greatest Italian opera-composer, composed his opera La Forza del Destino in 1862. The famous Rataplan is sung at the end of the third act by the gipsy girl Pre...

As a composer Strauss sr. is probably less famous as his son Johann Strauss jr.(1825 - 1899) but his Radeztky March is still one of the most popular pieces in classical music: Every New Year's Day it...

The Gypsy Chorus (Coro di Zingari) 'Vedi! Le fosche notturne spoglie' is the opening of the second act of he opera Il Trovatore. It is dawn at a gypsy encampment in Biscay, the gypsies prepare for the...

In the central part of the concerto, the Adagio, Mozart's preoccupation with cantabile melody opens a new world of sonority.It opens with a melody which must be one of the most beautiful ever written,...

In the central part of the concerto, the Adagio, Mozart's preoccupation with cantabile melody opens a new world of sonority.It opens with a melody which must be one of the most beautiful ever written,...

The famous recitative and aria Se quel guerrier... Celeste Aida is sung at the beginning of the opera: the young Egyptian Radames shows his ambitions as a general and the tenderness of his love for th...

The famous recitative and aria Se quel guerrier... Celeste Aida is sung at the beginning of the opera: the young Egyptian Radames shows his ambitions as a general and the tenderness of his love for th...

The work of the Russian composer Anatol Liadov (1855-1914) is characterized by bizarre humour, originality, precision and imagination. All these qualities are expressed in the 'Eight Russian Folk Song...

Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco was first produced in the Teatro alla Scala in 1842. Its triumph was total: the public went mad insisting of an 'encore' of the chorus Va pensiero! that became the second nati...

The aria with chorus Del futuro nel bujo discerno is sung at the very end of the third act of the opera Nabucco just after the famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Zaccaria, a Jewish high priest, encou...

The aria with chorus Del futuro nel bujo discerno is sung at the very end of the third act of the opera Nabucco just after the famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves. Zaccaria, a Jewish high priest, encou...

The chorus Che faceste? Dite su! from the opera Macbeth is sung at the very beginning of the opera. Three strings of witches are waiting for the generals Macbeth and Banquo to prophesy their futures:...