Wolfgang Birtel

Originally composed for piano solo, Rubinstein's 'Melody' Op. 3/1 is the best-known work written by the Russian composer. Thanks to the simple, yet tender melody and its expressive harmony, the name o...

The reputation of the Bohemian composer Zdenek Fibich (1850-1900) has always been somewhat overshadowed by that of Bedrich Smetana and Antonín Dvorák. This is a pity, for Fibich, though he died young,...

The American composer and pianist Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) is rather unknown around here, even though he had his artistic roots in here: For he was trained as a pianist in Paris, Stuttgart, Wiesba...

Overcoming the boundaries between 'serious' and entertaining music was what mattered to the musician Eduard Pütz (1911-2000). His compositions therefore include stylistic features of jazz and pop musi...

Who would have thought that ragtime would enjoy another renaissance! But more than 50 years after the death of its main representative, Scott Joplin, the film 'The Sting' has made this once popular st...

Although the Würzburg court musician and violin soloist Joseph Küffner (1776-1856) had to deal with military music for professional reasons, he had also written a series of symphonies, orchestral work...

Songs Without Words' - that's what Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) called his lyrical piano pieces, romantic miniatures in which the composer wanted to 'sing' on the keyboard instrument. With...

The melodies from George Gershwin's (1898-1937) musicals, from 'Porgy and Bess', from orchestral pieces like 'Rhapsody in Blue' or 'An American in Paris', we all know them! But the career of the young...

The melodies from George Gershwin's (1898-1937) musicals, from 'Porgy and Bess', from orchestral pieces like 'Rhapsody in Blue' or 'An American in Paris', we all know them! But the career of the young...

This collection of beautiful and easy original compositions for violin and piano provides a large selection of works to accompany every pupil during the first years of his or her music lessons. The vo...