Robert Greenberg
Historian, Composer, Pianist, Speaker, Author
Latest News:
Music History Monday: Melding with the Geldings, or Balls to the Wall
September 16th, 2019
(What, you don’t “like” my title? Please, don’t get testes about it.) Carlo Broschi, “Farinelli” (1705-1782) in 1734 by Bartolomeo Nazari We note the death on September 16, 1782 – 237 years ago today – of one of the greatest opera singers to have ever lived, the celebrated Italian castrato Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi, who went by the stage name of “Farinelli”. How often in our search for cultural equivalence – how tiresomely often…
Dr. Bob Prescribes Górecki: Symphony No. 3
September 10th, 2019
I recorded a course entitled Music as a Mirror of History for The Great Courses/Teaching Company in 2015. The concept behind the course was to feature works composed in direct response to historical events, and to discuss those musical works in the context of the events that inspired them. The resulting course was as much…
Music History Monday: Elvis and the Tube
September 9th, 2019
Elvis Presley (1935-1977) and Ed Sullivan (1901-1974) On September 9, 1956 – 63 years ago today – Elvis Presley made his first appearance, live, on The Ed Sullivan Show. (The show was indeed broadcast live in the Eastern and Central time zones, though delayed for the Mountain and Pacific time zones.) It has been suggested…
Dr. Bob Prescribes: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
September 3rd, 2019
Jerome Robbins leading the original Broadway cast of West Side Story in rehearsal I am going to say it upfront; abuse me as you wish. In my humble but not entirely ill-informed opinion, West Side Story – with its story concept by William Shakespeare, “book” (play) by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography and… Robert Greenberg | Copyright © 2019 All Rights Reserved