Music

A political exile, Richard Wagner found safety in Zurich, where he also discovered the love and philosophy that inspired his greatest works, as Paul Doolan explains.

Ian Bradley examines the achievements of the surprisingly radical Victorian dramatist and librettist who, in collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan, created classic satires of English national identity.

In our series in which historians look back on the changes that have taken place in their field in the 60 years since the founding of History Today, Daniel Snowman takes a personal view of new approaches to the study of the history of culture and the arts – and of music in particular.

Strauss's 'musical comedy' was first performed in Dresden on January 26th, 1911. It was a sensation.

Richard Cavendish remembers the birth of the pianist who was also briefly prime minister of Poland, on 18 November 1860.

The deeply historical nature of Dylan’s output has, until now, received little attention.

Sexually explicit jigs were a major part of the attraction of the Elizabethan, Jacobean and Restoration stage, as Lucie Skeaping explains. 

Richard Cavendish remembers the first performance of Porgy and Bess on September 30th, 1935.

Mark Juddery looks at the historical backdrop to the much-loved 1950s Hollywood musical, Singin’ in the Rain in which Hollywood tells its own story of the arrival of sound to the big screen.

The Western musical tradition of trained and professional performers, conductors and composers can trace its origins to the forms of Christian worship that developed in Europe during the first millennium, argues Christopher Page.