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.
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), often called the “Father of Russian music,” was a bit of a delicate flower. Because his older brother had died in infancy, his grandmother lavished great care on his physical wellbeing. Glinka remembers, “Soon after my birth
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) started composing as a child and, unlike most children, kept careful track of his writings. His early works are the expected piano pieces and songs but also chamber and orchestral attempts. His first major work took those
From Bach onward, the idea of a cycle of preludes has intrigued composer. George Gershwin (1898-1937) took up the task of writing an intended 24, only completed 6 and only published 3.
Another composer who gave up his father’s dream that he become a lawyer, the French composer Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) completed his studies, was admitted to the bar, but found writing, drawing, and especially composition much more to his liking. In
Gabriel Fauré didn’t like giving his works revealing names. He once said that he’d rather name every work ‘Piano Piece No. …’ than commit to a name. Commercialization in the person of his publisher defeated him and so we have
Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev (1836-1904) was the son of a highly affluent timber merchant. Educated at the German-speaking Reform School in St. Petersburg, he took lessons in piano, violin and viol. At the age of 15, Belyayev joined his father’s booming
The orientalist and journalist Osip Senkovsky (1800-1858) prolifically published articles on topics ranging from Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan languages, to mathematics and medicine. Under the pen name “Baron Brambeus” he issued a series of fantastic voyages, including one to the
The hunting profession—something we call “Wildlife management” in the 21st century—has long helped to maintain a population of healthy animals within an environment’s ecological capacity. Controlling the wildlife and predator population was of particular importance in the densely forested regions
