I will keep this up to date as we go.

Chapter 1: Dvorak's Cello Concerto: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0QSTlO6zZLoxeMSee6mTk7?si=ad3de21e0bde474b

Chapter 2: Franck's Violin sonata: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6qDe3lFnFw2ePSC1sZDF7a?si=76d390c1d37943b8

Chapter 3: Franchomme's Nocturne 3 and Bach's cello suite nr 1: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4iMhzRFc2DDmTmvCG0BXCd?si=15479d1d0ec748fb

Chapter 4: Schubert's Arpeggione in A minor: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0rQcfMmtU4VFQ6pDLA5LGg?si=e64b6187bc194976

Chapter 5: Saint Saens Le Cigne: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/768wy6RG8lqmUQKCkXuHtH?si=b632824b7bb44287

Chapter 6: 3 recordings of Bach's cello suites by Yoyo Ma:

1983: https://open.spotify.com/album/3cvjMNWg7t46NyDZzujfNg?si=3P0lOqDRQtq87XbgmYuHjw&nd=1

1997: https://open.spotify.com/album/7rbxlvUlXfx23tyfsM2ccS?si=3eH58hdOTtazvYjVSlKjcg

2018: https://open.spotify.com/album/6XaCGjrIRFiS5D5IVg66vb?si=uQwdmRstTGu2QUVCH6Gtkw

Chapter 7: Beethoven's cello sonatas: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jtzBiEkam2RbvGxHKlDpv?si=b9daaea113d84d7d

Chapter 11: Poulenc's cello sonatas: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1SCJeIe2pKZtb82aOuEHbB?si=cc9de8ac3219408d

Chapter 12: Rachmaninov's cello sonatas: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Y8nwcg6s6UEzdNzwk5m9a?si=13d6af151d994159

Chapter 14: Grieg's Solveig's song (chanted) and the Peer Gynt suite: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0CrryZsOYu7LAAZxnzJ42o?si=e757fd8fb1b6467b

Chapter 15: Schubert's 8th (unfinished) and Popper's etudes https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Q5H6qzvVXbQK0GOLQa4jr?si=08cae4325f4640fe

Chapter 18:The adagio from Brahms' Violin sonata nr 3: https://open.spotify.com/track/3SSv9uZaKDbMnpFAEHlF9m?si=ea79c60f464f4b86

Chapter 20: Beethoven's Für Elise https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ga0O3IYkKfozTYjGEzqNW?si=0ee8980b53d8407a

Chapter 24: Une Barque sur l'océan from Ravel's Mirroirs https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7osTbDiJsbv5VYM6XK2hFH?si=25a932fe1d714fe0

Chapter 25: Paganini's caprices for violin  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LVtTz0E3FH4p9kzQ9rATZ?si=084fb305d5454ca9

Tienen: The sugar city of Belgium, located about 50km

to the east of Brussels in the province “Flemish-Brabant” It is known for its

big sugar factory and is close to the language border.  As you can see, the village names a little to the south beneath the dotted line are all French. People to the north of that line speak Dutch, people to the south of it speak French.

In the harvest period, the very typical smell of boiling

down sugar beets spreads across the entire region. A lot of people really hate

that smell and it is one of the reasons housing is on the "cheap" side in Tienen.

People that spend their youth in Tienen often complain about

how Tienen is in the middle of nowhere, and that there is nothing to do, even

if you can be in Leuven or Brussels in respectively 15 or 45 minutes by train…

(I know I complained a lot as a teenager after we moved to the region XD…)

Leuven Bondgenotenlaan is one of the

streets on the Belgian version of Monopoly. It is a large street with a lot of

shops that connects the station of Leuven to the city center. If you start at the station

and walk it down you arrive at the cathedral and the city hall.

Leuven is a famous college and university city.

A famous coastal town in Belgium. As a touristic venue, it is

known most for its big casino on the dyke and the pier.

A lot of Belgians own an apartment at the Belgian coast or a small cottage in the Ardennes to spend their holidays at.

A concert hall in Brussel. Contains different halls of

various sizes going from a capacity of 60 to 860 people. Famous for classical

music since a lot of live broadcasted concerts take place at the venue.

https://www.flagey.be/en/

The cello or violoncello is a bowed

(sometimes plucked

and occasionally hit) string instrument

of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths:

from low to high, C2, G2, D3, and A3. The viola's four strings are

each an octave higher. Music for the cello is generally written in the bass clef,

with tenor clef,

or alto clef,

and treble clef

used for higher-range passages.

Played by a cellist

or violoncellist, it enjoys a large solo repertoire with and without accompaniment, as well as numerous concerti.

As a solo instrument, the cello uses its whole range, from bass to

soprano, and in chamber music such as string quartets

and the orchestra's

string section,

it often plays the bass part, where it may be reinforced an octave lower by the

double basses.

Figured bass

music of the Baroque era typically assumes a cello, viola da gamba, or bassoon

as part of the basso continuo group alongside chordal

instruments such as organ, harpsichord,

lute, or theorbo.

Cellos are found in many other ensembles, from modern Chinese orchestras

to cello rock

bands.

(source Wikipedia)

Antonín Dvořák: 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904. (Which makes him part of the

romantic period) was a Czech composer, one of the first Czech composers to achieve

worldwide recognition. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of

the folk music

of Moravia and his native Bohemia,

following the Romantic-era nationalist

example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák's style has been

described as "the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the

symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of

using them"

(Source: Wikpedia)

Misha

Maisky: In

my opinion, one of the best cellists of this age. I love his quote on how he

considers himself a citizen of the world: “I’m playing an Italian cello, with

French and German bows, Austrian and German strings, my 6 children were born in

4 different countries, my second wife is half Sri Lankan – half Italian, I’m

driving a Japanese car, wear a Swiss watch and I feel at home everywhere where

people appreciate and enjoy classical music.”

(Source of the quote: https://www.brusselscellofestival.com/mischa-maisky)

CLB: Center for school guidance. A Belgian government-funded

agency that centralizes school doctors and school counselors for a region in a

single place. There is one in every city, but the same center also takes care

of the schools in the surrounding towns. Believe me, it is one of the last

places you want to visit when you are in high school.

Tout

les matins du monde: Is

the movie Fleure watched. For those who have not seen it, It’s a

beautiful movie worth a watch. (not yuri though)  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103110/

Viola da gamba: The predecessor of the Cello. The

instrument had more strings, frets, and no pin. The bow is also held differently.

Most music that was written for it stems from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

César

Franck:

(10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a Romantic

composer, pianist,

organist,

and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life.

He was born in Liège,

in modern-day Belgium

(though at the time of his birth it was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands).

He gave his first concerts there in 1834 and studied privately in Paris from

1835, where his teachers included Anton Reicha.

After a brief return to Belgium, and a disastrous reception of an early

oratorio Ruth, he moved to Paris, where he married and embarked on a

career as a teacher and organist. He gained a reputation as a formidable

musical improviser and traveled widely within France to demonstrate new

instruments built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

In 1858, he became organist at the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris,

a position he retained for the rest of his life. He became a professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872; he took

French nationality, a requirement of the appointment. His pupils included Vincent

d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne,

Charles Tournemire, Guillaume

Lekeu and Henri Duparc. After acquiring the

professorship, Franck wrote several pieces that have entered the standard

classical repertoire, including symphonic,

chamber,

and keyboard works.

Class Teachers: In Belgium, every class has a teacher

who is responsible for that class for the duration of one school year. They are

called “klastitularis” in Dutch which google translates to the class teacher.

This is the teacher that will have career talks with you, and the first person

that will talk to a student when their grades are moving in the wrong direction

to discuss a plan of action.  At a parent-teacher

conference, this is the first person your parents will talk to. Going by what I

learned in novels; it’s comparable to what is often presented as a homeroom

teacher, we just don’t have homeroom in our schools.

Auguste Franchomme was the most renowned Parisian

cellist of his time.  He became a dear friend and frequent performance

partner of Chopin, and the dedicatee of several Chopin compositions, including

his final work, the Sonata for Piano and Cello. Their circle of friends

included Liszt, Mendelssohn, George Sand, Charlotte Rothschild, and many

other luminaries of 19th century Paris.  Franchomme composed charming,

virtuosic cello compositions, most of which are out of print and have never

been recorded.


(source: https://www.louise-dubin.com/franchomme)

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March– 28 July 1750) was a

German composer and musician of the late Baroque

period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental

compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works

such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor;

and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass

in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach

Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in

the history of Western music.

Mstislav

Leopoldovich Rostropovich (27 March 1927 – 27 April 2007) was a

Soviet and Russian cellist

and conductor.

He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In

addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both

inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more

than any cellist before or since. He inspired and

premiered over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and

artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei

Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Olivier

Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred

Schnittke, Norbert Moret, Andreas

Makris, Leonard Bernstein, Aram

Khachaturian and Benjamin

Britten

(source Wikipedia)

Franz Peter Schubert (German: [ˈfʁant͡s ˈpeːtɐ ˈʃuːbɐt]; 31 January

1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic

eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast oeuvre, including

more than 600 secular vocal works (mainly lieder), seven complete symphonies,

sacred music,

operas,

incidental music, and a large body of piano and

chamber music.

His major works include "Erlkönig" (D. 328), the Piano Quintet

in A major, D. 667 (Trout Quintet), the Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished

Symphony), the "Great" Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944,

the String Quintet (D. 956), the three last piano sonatas (D. 958–960), the

opera Fierrabras (D. 796), the incidental music to

the play Rosamunde

(D. 797), and the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin (D. 795) and Winterreise

(D. 911).

(Source Wikipedia)

Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy; he made his concert debut

at the age of ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he followed a conventional

career as a church organist, first at Saint-Merri,

Paris and, from 1858, La Madeleine, the official church of the French Empire. After leaving the post

twenty years later, he was a successful freelance pianist and composer, in

demand in Europe and the Americas.

(Source Wikipedia)

Even though most people know Saint-Saens for his carnival of

the animals, he wrote it during a stay at a friend’s house and never intended

this childish piece to be published. They found it between his stuff after he died,

and it got published post mortem.

During his life, he was so popular that he got attacked in

the streets of Paris and people would use scissors to get a piece of his

clothes. An idol avant la lettre.

Kissing:

A kiss is just a greeting. Traditionally we even give three

kisses (changing cheeks with every kiss), but most people just give one unless

there is a festive occasion or you meet some family members that you haven’t

met for a while, but there are those that give 3 kisses all the time.

Since we are in Flanders in this story, rules about kisses

aren’t as strict as in my previous story that was taking place in Brussels. Girls

give friends and boys they know a kiss as a greeting. Other people, they will

just wave at, say hi, or give a handshake. Boys only give girls a kiss as a

greeting but will shake hands with other boys or men. Guys giving each other a

kiss is socially awkward if they aren’t family.  When you meet on a social outing as a girl,

like going to a party in a group, you are considered to think of everyone in

your group as friends and give everyone a kiss, even if you won’t when you meet

them the next time in a different setup.

It's not like in Brussels where if you don’t give a kiss as

a greeting, people will think you are mad at them.

A kiss on the forehead like mentioned in chapter 6 is something given as a

sign of affection like a parent gives to their child.

Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is an American

cellist.

Born in Paris

to Chinese

parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy,

performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from the Juilliard

School and Harvard University, and has performed as a

soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 90 albums

and received 19 Grammy Awards.

(Source Wikipedia)

(17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer

and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history

of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical

music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic

era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early,

middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft,

is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812,

his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn

and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes

characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to suffer increasingly from

deafness.

In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical

form and expression.

(Source Wikipedia)

There is a connection between Beethoven and Belgium.

Van Beethoven is a Flemish name and Ludwig’s grandfather Lodewijck

grew up in the Belgian city Mechelen (near Antwerp).

I mention a slat being used for the cello. It is used to

stop the pin from sliding. When there is carpet on the floor, you do not need

it. Here is an example. I remember people asking me all the time what the slat

was for.

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30

January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs,

solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral

concert music. Among the best-known are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the

ballet Les biches

(1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord

and orchestra, the Organ Concerto (1938), the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria

(1959) for soprano,

choir, and orchestra.

Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March

1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor.

Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as

a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism

in Russian classical music. Early influences

of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian

composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its song-like melodicism,

expressiveness

and rich orchestral

colors.

The piano

is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output and he made a

point of using his skills as a performer to fully explore the expressive and

technical possibilities of the instrument.

Edvard

Hagerup Grieg, Norwegian: 15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) was a

Norwegian composer

and pianist.

He is widely considered one of the main Romantic era

composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire

worldwide. His use and development of Norwegian

folk music in his own compositions brought the music of Norway to

international consciousness, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as

Jean Sibelius

did in Finland

and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia.

Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a

German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg

into a Lutheran

family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes

grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs"

of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.

Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles,

piano, organ, voice, and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his

own works. He worked with leading performers of his time, including the pianist

Clara

Schumann and the violinist Joseph

Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have

become staples of the modern concert repertoire.

Brahms has been considered both a traditionalist and an

innovator, by his contemporaries and by later writers. His music is rooted in the

structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. Embedded within those

structures are deeply romantic motifs. While some contemporaries found his

music to be overly academic, his contribution and craftsmanship were admired by

subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold

Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed

nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a

generation of composers.

Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December

1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with

Impressionism along with his elder

contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers

rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as

France's greatest living composer.

(Sauce Wikipedia)

Rosin

is a hardened type of resin that is applied to your bow to make the hairs stick

more to the strings.

(27

October 1782 – 27 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was

the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time and left his mark as one of the pillars

of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices for Solo Violin Op. 1

are among the best known of his compositions and have served as an inspiration

for many prominent composers.

(Source Wikipedia)