After his First Symphony flopped, Sergei Rachmaninoff briefly switched careers. A London critic wrote, "It was such a spectacle as has rarely been seen anywhere in the Empire." Photo illustration by Jeff Curnow/Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress hide caption
New York Philharmonic principal bassoonist Judith LeClair acknowledges applause at a concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Chris Lee/New York Philharmonic hide caption
Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili sings amid a massive field of poppies in a Metropolitan Opera production of Borodin's Prince Igor. Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera hide caption
Timpani are also called kettledrums. These instruments crafted by Antonio Stradivari were, for a time, more kettles than drums. DEA Picture Library/De Agostini/Getty Images hide caption
Latvian bass-baritone Egils Silins portrays The Flying Dutchman, one of opera's most disturbing bachelors, in Orange, France in 2013. Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Where do you start? That's a question composers ask when beginning a new piece. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Flutist Yukie Ota kept her cool at the Carl Nielsen Flute Competition yesterday in Odense, Denmark. Odense Symphony hide caption
Music can be like a fleeting summer. You get to the end wondering, "How did we get here already?" iStockphoto hide caption
Hojotoho! How much Metropolitan Opera trivia do you know? Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera hide caption
Citizens of Paris, headed by the National Guards, storm the Bastille prison in an event which has come to be seen as the start of the French Revolution, 14th July 1789. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
At the Moab Music Festival in Utah, summer night performances take place in picturesque settings. Richard Bowditch/Moab Music Festival hide caption
German soccer players sing their national anthem Monday before their 2014 World Cup match against Portugal in Salvador, Brazil. Stu Forster/Getty Images hide caption
Composer Richard Strauss in London in 1914. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Madama Butterfly is one of many unhappy moms in opera. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images hide caption
Animals are fun to pet. They also make great guest appearances in music. Roberto A. Sanchez/iStock.com hide caption
Jonathan Carney is the concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. James Bartolomeo/Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hide caption
Gods, monsters and Rhinemaidens populate Richard Wagner's 16-hour epic Ring cycle. Marco Secchi/Getty Images hide caption
Match your wits against the granddaddy of composers in this big Bach puzzler. Wikimedia Commons hide caption
Sometimes, you just can't overcome nature. iStock hide caption
Hoist a pint for this St. Patrick's day. But first take this quiz! iStock.com hide caption
Bach, a 14-week-old Bernedoodle, is one of the competing canines in this year's Puppy Bowl. Keith Barraclough/Animal Planet hide caption
American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, circa 1965. Erich Auerbach/Getty Images hide caption