Unconscious bursts of creativity that engender significant artistic endeavors are not necessarily inspired by passionate romantic love alone. Greek mythology believed that this kind of stimulus came from nine muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. Muses were long considered the source of knowledge embodied in poetry, lyric songs and ancient myths. Throughout the history of Western art, artists, writers and musicians have prayed to the muses, or alternately, drawn inspiration from personified muses that conceptually reside beyond the borders of earthly love. True to life, however, composer inspiration has emerged from the entire spectrums of existence and being. Nature has always played a decidedly important role in the inspiration of various classical composers, as did exotic cities, landscapes or rituals. Composer inspiration is also found in poetry, the visual arts, and mythological stories and tales. Artistic, historical or cultural expressions of the past are just as inspirational as is the everyday: the third Punic War or the contrapuntal mastery of Bach is inspirationally just as relevant as are the virulent bat and camel. Composer inspiration is delightfully drawn from heroes and villains, scientific advances, a pet, or something as mundane as a hangover. Discover what fires the imagination of people who never stop asking questions.
Taking up the genre of musical portraits as had been done by earlier composers such as Couperin, Schumann, Anton Rubinstein and Elgar, American composer Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) began composing his portraits in 1928 and completed his final one 60 years
Losing a parent, spouse, child, sibling or a very dear friend is one of life’s most difficult experiences. Although we all are aware of the transitory nature of life, we can never be fully prepared for death. And in times
As you peek around the corners of the repertoire, there are a few pieces that reflect the daily concern with Dining. There are works that set recipes, works that show the activities in a kitchen, works that show the procession
The last piano work of Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) was Bourrée fantasque (Whimsical Bourrée), composed in 1891 when he fell under the terminal stages of syphilis. Unfortunately, it was just as his musical life was changing for the better. His latest
Composer Samuel Adler (b. 1928) was born in Mannheim, Germany, but immigrated to the US at age 11 and was a student of Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston and Randall Thompson. He studied conducting with Serge Koussevitzky and joined
The swan is a bird of many metaphors: sailing perfectly calmly on the surface and flapping wildly with their webbed feet below is one of the more memorable. In music, however, the swan is the bird that is silent in
In 1892 Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) set to work on an orchestral suite with arrangements of piano music by Frédéric Chopin. Entitled Chopiniana it was introduced to the public in December 1893 by Rimsky-Korsakov, and published by Belyayev one year later.
Birds in music are everywhere – even non-singing birds, such as Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela. There’s also Vaughan Williams’ Lark (ascending), and Delius’ First Cuckoo in Spring, and even Mussorgsky’s Ballet of Unhatched Chicks. Let’s explore some other birds.
