About

Hello! I’m Stephan Williams, a pianist and university student studying philosophy. I studied piano for seven years with David Zapka, former music professor at West Liberty University. I decided to start this blog to better myself as a musician and motivate myself to learn more about music.

Why "Opus 109"?
Opus 109 is the catalogue number of one of my favorite pieces of music - Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109. Here is a wonderful recording of this masterwork by Emil Gilels:


What can I expect from this blog?
Articles about a wide variety of topics in classical music, from famous musical interpretations and historic performances to reflections on great composers and their work. I’m especially interested in discovering the works of rare or neglected composers of the past, such as Jan Ladislav Dussek and Nicolás Ledesma. Since there are areas in classical music with which I am regrettably quite ignorant (opera, for example), I will be writing down my discoveries and reactions here. Usually I’ll just be throwing my opinion out there, other times I’ll be offering a new or controversial perspective on a topic in classical music. Whether you’re a seasoned musician yourself, or an inquisitive amateur, I hope you find something of interest on this blog. 

Popular posts from this blog

2022-2023: Two Years of Music in Review

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Last year, I didn't get around to writing a post like this, so now I will be reviewing the past two years of my musical endeavors - discussing what I learned, enriching experiences I had, and what I look forward to improving upon in 2024. It was my desire to improve as a musician that led to me starting this blog, so I thought it fitting to reflect on these things. New Discoveries The past two years of have been the most musically involved for me, from discovering new composers to improving my piano technique, and giving a variety of performances. First, the composers. I present them in roughly chronological order rather than the order I discovered or "rediscovered" them. Domenico Scarlatti Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas are not new to me - I grew up hearing them (primarily on classical guitar), and they have always been a source of musical inspiration and joy. However, until the past year or so, I had only tinkered with them on the piano. In years of piano lessons, Sca...
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Book Review: The Well-Tempered Accompanist by Coenraad Bos

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Coenraad Bos      Coenraad Bos (1875-1955) was a Dutch pianist and vocal accompanist. In his book The Well-Tempered Accompanist, he recounts his experiences throughout his long career in music, and offers advice to aspiring accompanists. Here is the  Wikipedia biography of him, and here is a link to the book on Archive.org . The Practical and the Impractical      Overall, the practical advice on accompanying is rarely specific. Rather, Bos's emphasis is on presenting the general principles and requisite skills of accompanying. Because of this, accompanists looking for detailed and exhaustive lists of advice will be disappointed. His emphasis on the cultural background that a complete accompanist should have is perhaps what is most striking about this book. A familiarity with languages, knowledge of poetry and how to interpret it, and a basic knowledge of singing are all skills that a good accompanist must possess in addition to  (not instead of) ...
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Desert Island Record Picks, Part I

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     To kick off this blog, I've compiled a list of "essential" music records that I would want with me in the off chance I get stranded on a desert island ( with all my favorite records and a device to play them... What luck!). It should be noted that not every pick is one single piece of music. Most of the picks are quite large works, actually. Similarly, not every record consists of just one CD or vinyl - some of them include two or three. Maybe that's cheating, but I figure the rules aren't too strict on unexplored desert islands in the Pacific ocean.      This article is divided into two parts: this first part is dedicated to works that are primarily choral or vocal, and the second to purely non-vocal ("instrumental") music. Since the greatest instrument of all is the human voice, I have given special attention to selecting my favorite choral works, and these would take priority for me if I had to choose between the two. I. Choral Works 1. S. Ra...
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