As a rather moody eighteen year old, I had a Summer holiday job working as a waiter in the small and very pretty Sussex village of Alfriston. For over two months I lived in the building on the left of…
I went back to one of my favourite places last week, the glorious city of Florence in Italy where the architecture, painting and sculpture make this the best place in the World to see the great masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance whilst…
The French soprano Emma Calvé (1858-1942) as Carmen The last of these 1875 hit tunes blogs comes from Bizet’s Carmen. It is probably true that everyone, certainly in the Western hemisphere has heard of this opera whether they like opera…
Hendrik Klausen as Peer Gynt (1876) A lot of pople have only ever heard of Peer Gynt because of a few big tunes written by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg on the invitation of the equally Norwegian playwright Hendrik Ibsen for his…
American soprano Rosa Ponselle as La Gioconda in 1924 In the second of my ballet extracts centred round famous tunes written in 1875, I have moved to an grandly melodramtic Italian opera, La Gioconda written that year by the one…
Rita Sangalli in the first production of Sylvia In my musical journey through 1875, I have come across a surprizingly large number of pieces that have since become so famous that even people who don’t think they’ve heard any classical…
This week I have come to the end of the year 1875 in my journey through the history of classical music – a year that turned out to be full of popular classics that have mostly held their place in…
Sunday morning here in Lewes was sunny and warm until a breeze arrived mid afternoon with some milky clouds. It was the perfect day to admire the cherry blossom which has been especially beautiful this Spring but will peak in…
I have known Brighton here in the UK all of my life and in many ways define myself or contrast myself with it and always have done. It is hugely familiar, cosily so at times, I’ve lived here, been to…
I find anniversary excuses in the arts often dull and unoriginal and, dare I say it, lazy as far as the arts world is concerned. I like the novels of Charles Dickens, for instance, because most of them have thrilled…