Musical Works in Context: The Forgotten English Impressionist — Born in 1886, Rebecca Clarke grew up in England learning the violin, before shifting to the viola at the request of her professors at the Royal College of Music while studying composition there in the early 1900s. One of Lionel Tertis’ students, Clarke gained renown as a violist before…

Musical Works in Context: A Sample of Bach — Having grown up in a family of musicians, it comes as no surprise that Johann Sebastian Bach would become one of the most prolific composers of the baroque era. Born in 1685, he was introduced to the organ as a child by his older relatives, who also exposed him…

Musical Works in Context: Romanticism at its Pinnacle — Born in Holstein in 1833, Johannes Brahms quickly emerged as a musical talent, performing virtuosic works by earlier composers as a pianist. Only beginning to compose in adulthood, he embarked mostly on…

Musical Works in Context: Retrospective in Composition — A Brief Note from the Editor [28/3/22]: Given the significance of current events in Eastern Europe, I approach the subject of Russian music, even that written by a composer living…

On Building Dissatisfaction towards February 1917 in Russia — While the suffering caused by the defeats in the First World War did play a role in creating dissatisfaction with the Tsarist Government in Russia by February 1917, it was more emblematic of the larger underlying problems causing dissatisfaction than causal in and of itself, the role of the suffering…

On the Effect of Royal Personality following the Tudors — The individual personalities of James I and Charles contributed definitively to the collapse of the monarchy less than half a century following the end of the Tudor era with the death of Elizabeth I, aggravating issues left in store for them upon their ascension in 1603. While the characters of…

James I: Balancing Catholicism & Puritanism — Both the Puritan and Catholic groups posed immediate threats to the monarchy following James I’s ascension, the ambiguous religious policy of his predecessor, Elizabeth I, leaving many of the Christian factions of England snapping at the heels of the monarchy for change. The ‘outward conformity’ stance of the late Tudor…

The Workings of James I’s Royal Court — While the upper echelons of James I’s power structure were deeply misrepresented by traditional historians, there is still an element of truth to the anecdotes and tales of a more informal and casual royal court. Such workings in the court were not, as sometimes represented, a reflection of James’ inability…

On Problems Inherent to the Tsarist Russian Empire — The Russian geographical territory, both in the modern day and in the past stretching back to the birth of the Empire in 1721, is a land of mythical proportions. Spanning the Eurasian landmass and covering approximately a sixth of the world’s total landmass, Russia presented, as would appear obvious, problems…