Tchaikovsky dedicated his Fourth Symphony to a wealthy woman who provided him with financial support—but who stipulated that they never meet.
Archduke Rudolf of Austria was a key figure in some of Beethoven’s best-known works, and Ravel dedicated his Pavane for a Dead Princess to the heir of an American sewing machine company.
In this hour, these and other extraordinary patrons of music—and the extraordinary works they inspired.
FEATURED RECORDINGS
Title | Group/Artist | Catalog # | UPC |
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 |
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Ozawa | Deutsche Gramophone 427 354-2 | 4011790608228 |
Beethoven: Piano Trios, Vol. 2 | Perlman, Harrell, Ashkenazy | EMI Classics 85496 | 724358549621 |
Copland: Appalachian Spring, etc. | Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernstein | Deutsche Gramophone 413 324-2 | 028941332424 |
Ravel: Works for Solo Piano [for Pavane for a Dead Princess] | Jean-Yves Thibaudet | London 433 515-2 | 0028942586024 |
Mozart Overtures [for Abduction from the Saraglio] | Capella Istropolitana, Barry Wordsworth | Naxos 8.550185 | 730099518529 |
Mozart Requiem | Dunedin Consort & Players, John Butt | Linn Records CKD 449 | 691062044929 |
Wagner: Wesendonk Lieder & Tristan und Isolde | Norman, London Symphony Orchestra, Davis | Philips 412 655-2 | 028941265524 |