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.
Madrid, the heart of Spain, is a city of both historical architecture and the latest of the modern. The classical sound in the city includes the guitar and the orchestra. At the center, the city visitor will find the Royal
The post WWII era saw more social topics being taken up in the musical such as social injustice, union-busting, and racism, it also saw the introduction of international settings that were normal rather than fantastical.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the French cabaret was a gathering place for the artistic and literary elite. It projected social and artistic ideals and was widely imitated through new establishments and touring performers. Among the traveling stars
One of the wonders of animation in the 1930 and ‘40s was the breadth of classical music. Walt Disney took this seriously in Fantasia. Intended to be an ongoing series of settings of classical music, the feature-length cartoon (and some
You want to check out the city ahead of the crush of the 2020 Summer Olympics, here’s a bit of travel music to see the city. City sounds, traditional sounds, the modern and the antique are all part of Japanese
The musical changed during WWII – the themes were less fantastical, the stories were set in more realistic backgrounds, and the international exposure that so many people had during the war made its appearance on the stage.
If you were looking for dinner and a song during the Second Empire in France—basically during the reign of Napoleon III from 1852-1870—the Parisian café-concert was the place to be. Providing a combination of food and entertainment that included strolling
Early in his animation career, Walt Disney discovered the importance of using music in his cartoons – his first animation with his new character, Mickey Mouse, was also the first animation to have synchronized sound. The steamboat chugs, Mickey sings,
