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.
What does Spring mean to you – a season of soft breezes? A season of soft mud? The return of the birds? The return of liquid water? The return of the green trees? Flowers pushing up through the snow? Or
America is a land of immigrants and this is just as true of its classical music as its cities. Clarinetist and composer Derek Bermel opens his mind to the musical influences in the world around him and his ears to
One of the greatest stories of ancient times is the tale of how the Buddhist scriptures came to China. Immortalized in Journey to the West, in a 16th-century text attributed to Wu Cheng’en, the mighty foursome of The Monkey King
In the universe of global consumerism, branding is everything. Establishing a brand strategy and logo lets potential customers know what your company is all about, and what people perceive it to be. Whether it is Apple, Google, Amazon or Coca-Cola,
One of the wonderful signs of spring are the flowers that appear everywhere, sometimes under our feet, forgotten through the long cold winter. Frederick Delius (1862-1934) took four 16th and 17th century texts and created his small collection of Four
Who is this rascal Till Owl Mirror? First appearing in a German book published in 1515, he comes straight out of folklore and tales of the practical jokester. In the 1515 book, Till was born near Brunswick around 1300. His
Orpheus was not only a legendary hero of Greek mythology; he was also the first superstar musician. But more than that, he was the Mozart, Shakespeare, Pavarotti, and Lady Gaga all rolled into one. His singing and playing moved even
How do you modernize a classic? In the summer of 2015, composer Christian Jost wanted to recompose Schumann’s Dichterliebe for a particular voice, but the singer, his wife mezzo-soprano Stella Doufexis, died before he could even write one note. The
