There’s a trepidatious growl from the contra-bassoon. Soon, it is joined by French horns, strings and timpani; the sound rumbles, snowballs – and then: abrupt silence. The piano sings into the stillne

These days, we associate autograph books with celebrities. But they originated in 16th-century Germany, where university students used to collect signatures from their classmates, and functioned as an

14 JANUARY

We bid a sad but fond farewell to the musicians, producers, songwriters and more from the prog world who left us this year. Adieu.

In June 1993, two new children’s books made an appearance in bookshops throughout the country. The cover of the first, Terrible Tudors, featured a cartoon by illustrator Martin Brown, of a 16th centur

‘I felt that I should like to kiss the hands that had awakened a new world of music for me.’ The year was 1888, the occasion was the Paris debut of a 27-year-old pianist named Ignacy Jan Paderewski. A