iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Dukas was born otd, 1 October 1865, in Paris. As a composer, his surviving output is rather small – he was notoriously self-critical and destroyed a number of his scores. His most famous piece, by a country mile, is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Virgil Thomson died otd, 30 September 1989. He was a composer and music critic, rarely short of a bon mot, and not infrequently, the source of a barbed criticism.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

On this day, 29 September 1789, Mozart finished writing his Clarinet Quintet in A major. He wrote the piece for his friend, the virtuoso Anton Stadler, who would also be the inspiration for the clarinet concerto a couple of years later.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I’ve been spending rather a lot of time with Britten’s War Requiem recently, as I’m preparing my November class on the work. The more I listen to it, the more I’m excited to share it with others.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Gerald Finzi died otd, 27 September 1956. He was one of the most distinctive English composers of the mid 20thC, partic known for his settings of English poetry. He spent much of his life in the countryside, and had an impt role in cultivating and preserving a huge variety of English apple trees.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

George Gershwin was born otd, 26 September 1898, in New York. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. George showed an early talent for the piano and by his early twenties he was already making a name for himself as a songwriter and pianist.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Jean-Philippe Rameau was born otd, 25 September 1683 and became one of the most important composers of the 18th century. Known today above all for his operas, he only came to the genre in his fifties, having previously established a reputation as a music theorist.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Andrzej Panufnik was born otd, 24 September 1914, in Warsaw. He studied music in Warsaw, Vienna and Paris and became one of Poland’s leading composers. His career was disrupted by the Second World War when he returned to Warsaw, but he continued composing despite the German occupation.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Vincenzo Bellini died otd, 23 September 1835, just short of his 34th birthday. He came from a musical family in Sicily and showed an early aptitude for music.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Roger Quilter died on 21 September 1953, in London. He was one of the leading English composers of art song in the early 20th century, writing more than a hundred songs.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Gustav Holst was born otd, 21 September 1874. He came from a musical family and studied composition at the Royal College of Music, where he developed a lifelong friendship with Ralph Vaughan Williams.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In November I’m running a special class on Britten’s War Requiem. It’s 50 years since Britten’s death so I’m marking that, and trying to land as near to Remembrance Sunday as my diary allows. It’s one of the most powerful musical and political statements of the twentieth century.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Looking forward to this morning’s on-line Music Appreciation class on Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto. He wrote it in 1957 for his 19-year-old son Maxim’s graduation at the end of his piano studies at Moscow Conservatoire.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Francesca Caccini was born otd, 18 September 1587, in Florence. She came from an impressively musical family: her father Giulio was a composer and singer, her mother was a singer, and her younger sister Settimia also became a composer and performer.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Hildegard of Bingen died otd, 17 September 1179. She was a remarkable woman living in a world in which women had very limited access to education or opportunity of any sort. Enclosed in a monastery from the age of eight, she eventually became an abbess - and a highly influential one at that.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Nadia Boulanger was born otd, 16 September 1887, in Paris. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 9, and went on to become a composer, pianist, organist and conductor. But it was as an international teacher that she had her greatest influence.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Louise Farrenc died otd, 15 September 1875, in Paris. She was a composer, pianist, teacher and editor and for 30 years she was Professor of Piano at the Paris Conservatoire.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Luigi Cherubini was born in September 1760, in Florence. He moved to Paris in the late 1780s and became one of the most respected composers in France.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Clara Schumann was born otd, 13 September 1819, in Leipzig. She was one of the great pianists of the nineteenth century, as well as a composer, although her composing gradually became less central to her life as her responsibilities as a wife and mother grew.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Mahler’s Eighth Symphony premiered otd, 12 September 1910, in Munich, with Mahler himself conducting. It was an unmitigated triumph - unusual for a Mahler symphony.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Arvo Pärt was born otd, 11 September 1935 in Estonia. His career as a composer has seen two stages, with early work dominated by film music and experiments with various techniques including serialism until he hit a creative block.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Dora Pejačević was born otd, 10 September 1885, in Budapest. She came from a Croatian aristocratic family and grew up in a castle in Našice, in what is now eastern Croatia. Her mother was a pianist and singer, and Dora received her first musical inspiration from her.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I went to the most wonderful concert last night to hear Víkingur Ólafsson. The whole programme was remarkable - and I loved his continuous presentation, never letting the sound die from one piece to the next and avoiding applause, but I was particularly moved by his playing of Bach’s Partita No 6.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

My goodness. Just been to the most astounding piano recital at Bristol Beacon by Vikingur Ólafsson. If you ever get the chance to hear him play live, jump at it. His dynamic control blew me away - especially the ppp. Never heard anything like it and the Bach was a revelation. Incredible.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Antonín Dvořák was born otd, 8 September 1841, in a small village in Bohemia. He eventually became one of the most celebrated composers in Europe, but his route there was far from straightforward. He grew up in modest family circumstances, learning the violin and playing in the village band.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Madeleine Dring was born otd, 7 September 1923. She was a multi-talented musician who seemed to excel at both composing and preforming, and her love of theatre found its way into much of her music.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Yesterday, I started a new term of Discover Music classes with Valse triste by Sibelius. What began as incidental music for a play about death, was subsequently revised by Sibelius as a short standalone concert piece which became one of his best-loved works.

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The entrepreneurial composer and publisher Anton Diabelli was born otd, 5 September 1781. A chorister in Salzburg, he moved to Vienna where he made a successful career, writing across many genres incl piano, guitar, songs, chamber music & church music. He also established a publishing house. 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A new term of online music appreciation classes starts tomorrow with two lovely orchestral waltzes by Sibelius. Music is one of the ways I make sense of the world - its joy, beauty, grief, excitement and humanity. The classes are for people who love music, whether or not they read music. 1/2

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The Austrian composer Anton Bruckner was born otd, 4 September 1824. He was a peculiar jumble of apparent contradictions: profoundly humble, and deferential to the opinions of others, yet ultimately possessing a quiet belief in the value of his own music. 1/6

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Otd in 1912, Henry Wood conducted the prem of Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra at the London Proms. I think it’s fair to say it didn’t go down well. One account reported that a third of the audience hissed, another third laughed, and the remaining third were too baffled to do either. 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The German baroque composer, Georg Böhm, was born otd, 2 September 1661. Perhaps his name is unfamiliar to many of us, but his influence on one man in particular is crucial. That man was JS Bach. 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor died OTD, 1 September 1912, aged just 37. His father was born in Sierra Leone and was descended from African-American slaves. Samuel grew up in Croydon and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Alma Mahler was born otd, 31 Aug 1879. She was intelligent, beautiful, highly educated & charismatic, and consequently became one of the most admired women in Viennese cultural life. Her circle of composers, artists, writers & intellectuals was striking, and many of them fell in love with her. 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The composer Bohuslav Martinů died otd, 28 August 1959. Bohemian by birth, he spent much of his life elsewhere: Paris in the 1920s & 30s, The US during WWII, and finally Switzerland. His music absorbed a wide array of influences - Czech folk music, jazz, French modernism, Stravinsky, Bach. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Rebecca Clarke was born otd, 27 August 1886. She was Stanford’s first female composition student at the Royal College of Music ands an impressive violist. She was one of the 1st women to work as a professional orchestral musician & she built a remarkable international career in chamber music. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Ralph Vaughan Williams died otd, 26 August 1958. His family background and connections were remarkable, including Great Uncle Charles (Darwin). 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Leonard Bernstein was born otd, 25 August 1918. Composer, conductor, pianist, educator and humanitarian, his legacy is harder than most to contain in a single box. He became the first American-born and trained conductor to lead a major American orchestra. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Another lesser-known English composer today - Kenneth Leighton who died otd, 24 August 1988. A hugely accomplished composer, pianist and teacher, he wrote across almost every genre, although his sacred choral music is probably what has kept his name best known. 1/3

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

The English composer Constant Lambert was born otd, 23 August 1905. Composer, conductor, critic, writer and bon vivant, he moved between ballet, jazz, the theatre and the concert hall. He was a close friend of the composer Peter Warlock, whose death by suicide in 1930 affected him deeply. 1/5

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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

One of the first "outrageous" claims I saw as Jason Arday's media hounding unfolded was that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days! Wow! What a thing to claim! And the newspapers all suggested there was no evidence he actually did it. Well, they clearly didn't look very hard 🙄 🧵 1/26

Photo after Jason's final marathon taken from his archived blog showing Jason surrounded by supporters in orange charity t-shirts

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Claude Debussy was born otd 22 August 1862. He’s always referred to as an Impressionist, but he detested the word and fiercely rejected its application to his work. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see why the term has been broadly adopted in reference to much of his music. 1/3

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Lili Boulanger was born otd, 21 August 1893. She lived for only 24 years, but in that short time she became the first woman to win the Prix de Rome for composition (aged 19), and she produced a small body of distinctive music. 1/3

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

On this day, 20 August 1993, the American composer, Joan Tower, premiered her Fifth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman. It was dedicated to Joan Harris. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

George Enescu was born otd, 19 August 1881. I often talk about child prodigies in music, but Enescu really takes the biscuit. He was already composing by the time he was five, and became the youngest ever student admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at seven, graduating when he was twelve. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Antonio Salieri was born otd, 18 August 1750. If you know him mainly as the jealous rival who supposedly poisoned Mozart, you’ve met the fictional version of Salieri rather than the real one. In reality, he was one of the most successful musicians in Europe. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Nicola Porpora was born otd, 17 August 1686. An internationally celebrated composer in his lifetime and one of the most sought-after singing teachers in Europe. He worked in Naples, Venice, London, Dresden and Vienna, and wrote more than forty operas. 1/4

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture premiered otd, 16 August 1932, after a holiday in Havana that left a lasting impression on the composer. 1/5

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Lotti @lottinewstead.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Edward Elgar’s Sospiri was first performed on this day, 15 August 1914. The title means “sighs”, and it is one of the most intimately emotional pieces I know. 1/4

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sianushka.bsky.social @sianushka.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Proms is screening Beethoven’s 7th symphony on bbc4 right now which is my fave Beethoven (my knowledge is limited)

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