Film composer Alex North (Cleopatra, Spartacus) wrote incidental music for the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Years ago I met one of the musicians who played in that production. The group (all men) sat playing…

Johannes Brahms was apparently a fan of the music of Johann Strauss, Jr. Once the Viennese Waltz King’s wife asked Brahms to autograph her fan. Brahms penned the first few notes of “The Blue Danube” waltz, and below it wrote:…