Tagged: Classical

In 1982 I was pushed into a chair in front of a microphone to back announce Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3."  Back then, KPAC was brand new, and had four turntables, reel to reel machines, and a small staff. With no university or college to support us, bringing classical music to San Antonio was a gamble from the get - go. Here are some of my favorite musical moments of the last three decades.

Franz Schubert had great friends, and he needed them. His father wanted him to teach school, but Franz was built to compose music, and what started as a family hobby turned into an all consuming passion. Giving up his teaching job, Schubert turned to his friends, and with their help he was allowed, slowly and painfully, to become the artist he knew himself to be.

At one time Franz Josef Haydn had the best and worst job in the world. From his earliest youth he had found his way into the employ of the Eszterhazy family. Once he settled in, and with the exception of the rare argument, this arrangement (1761-1802) continued into his final retirement from ill health. He started with Prince Paul Anton (Pal Antal 1711-1762) first as assistant Kapellemeister and then the top post. But after that patron’s death his real compositional life began.