Italy held a monopoly on opera until the 19th century, when Germany and France entered the arena. Mozart got the ball rolling, Weber made it big, and Wagner perfected it. In between Weber and Wagner was Heinrich Marschner. His opera, Der Vampyr, was cool way before the likes of Buffy or Twilight, and still remains cooler than Tom Cruise.

Long before things like Castlevania made us associate a certain musical style with Vampires (specifically, baroque harpsichord concerti in minor keys) Marschner was starting from scratch, and became known for his ability to write operatic horror.

This year, in the American east, March has come in like a lamb with warm sun, but now that beastly lion (cold wind) has come back to bit us on the bum. Reminds me of a delightful musical setting of a set of Aesop’s fables by American composer Anthony Plog.

Austrian violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler is known as a hot-dog violinist and his compositions, both of which were warm, juicy, and sweet. His best-loved work is Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen, three short pieces for violin and piano that recall the sound of, well, Old Wieners (er, old Vienna).

Written in 1905, Kreisler knew this musical style was out of fashion. For some stupid reason, there is an unspoken rule that new Art Music needs to be fresh and forward-looking, and that imitating or stealing another’s music is bad. So, he attributed the work to Joseph Lanner, who was a genuine Old Wiener Alt-Wiener Viennese romantic, with no artificial fillers. Once the piece became famous, Kreisler removed Lanner’s name and took credit for the music.

I’m telling ya, you never sausage a great violinist!