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.
In December of 1857 Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria/Hungary magnanimously declared, “It is my will that the Vienna suburbs are to be connected to the center of imperial power.” And so he had the old city fortifications torn down, and
She was described as “that beautiful and unchallenged sovereign of sophisticated Paris; a leader of the smart intelligentsia and unchallenged queen of the upper monde; the most distinguished lady in the whole of Parisian society.” She was born Elisabeth de
After a hard day of coming to terms with personal demons and morbid obsessions in a mental institution, not everybody is in the mood to sit through a seemingly endless Wagnerian musical drama or the monumental theatricality of a Verdi
She aroused the curiosity of Napoleon Bonaparte and went for intimate walks with Karl Marx. She entertained a significant passion for Goethe, who deflected her craving into an extended correspondence and companionship, and she was Beethoven’s muse. Robert Schumann and
Perhaps a trip to the antipodes is on your schedule. In many ways, it’s a trip to an older culture, both of the native peoples and of the western arrivals. And yet, at the same time, cut away from the
Rudyard Kipling wrote, “Pleasant the snaffle of Courtship, improving the manners and carriage; But the colt who is wise will abstain from the terrible thorn-bit of Marriage.” The Irish poet Thomas Moore had a similar take on that mysterious and
If you’ve ever visited the place that many people consider the centre of the known universe then you’re familiar with its vibrant downtown, its meditative Central Park, the way the city buzzles, and sizzles, and then sometime is the perfect
On Sunday Afternoons between1833 and 1835, Frédéric Chopin frequently made his way to 107 rue Saint-Dominique in Paris. His destination was the Hotel de Monaco, sometimes called the Hôtel d’Eckmühl, which functioned as the home of the Austrian ambassador to
