19th-century Europe was humming and dancing along to this composer’s catchy tunes. This piece, one of the composer’s most well-known works, was written in 1882 to showcase a talented coloratura soprano who had made herself a star in Vienna. The piece remains as one of this composer’s most well-loved creations

The inspiration for this cantata was a trendy new beverage that was making its way across Europe in the early eighteenth century. The plot concerns a young lady, hopelessly addicted to the jive of the java, and her father, who tries to “cure” her by interfering in her love-life!

In this piece, the composer goes far beyond simply transcribing music from his favorite opera, a story about an unrepentant seducer. This special type of transcription, called “reminiscences” or “memories,” was popular with Romantic composers.

This composer so passionate about his operatic philosophy that he built his own theater to serve as the main performance space for his operas. The theater opened in 1876 with the world premiere production of his monumental cycle of four operas based on subjects from Norse and ancient German mythology.

This composer defined Hollywood music in the Golden Age of the major studios. Despite his numerous accolades, however, he lost the Academy Award. If sheer musical girth had been a factor, he certainly would have won-timing in at just under four hours of music. This civil war epic was only one of the twelve films on which he worked in the same year!

This composer was to compose a set of incidental music for a Russian production of one of the greatest plays ever written. While he was exhausted after just finishing one of his monumental operas, he agreed and began work on this piece in 1888. He would eventually compose two separate sets of music based on this play.

can you name this tune? Go to the land of balalaikas and Boris Godunov and see what you can come up with…

Ether Game asks: can you name this tune? It’s a musical tradition at graduations everywhere!

Although this composer is best known for his film work, his career began in radio, and eventually stretched to include both concert music and television. Although the grotesque, disturbing, and violent film didn’t please the director’s studio, both filmmaker and composer had a way of getting what they wanted…

This music was prominently featured in a film about the intoxicating power of chocolate, and how it shook up a small French town. Things are further complicated when gypsy guitarist finds his way ashore.