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.
Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers of the Blessed Virgin The musicologist Denis Arnold once famously suggested that to perform the Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin), composed by Claudio Monteverdi is “to court disaster.” Arnold further asserts, “To write
The young Sergei Prokofiev made his mark on the piano world with a brilliant showcase piece, written when he was 23. The Toccata, Op.11, was cleverly designed to display the composer’s brilliance not only as a composer but also as
Philadelphia OrchestraEugene OrmandyArthur Rubinstein The Polish-Russian War of 1830/31 was essentially an armed rebellion of a politically partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. Although the Polish resistance was able to achieve some minor victories, the Imperial Russian Army quickly crushed
The commercial and defensive confederation of merchants and their market towns along the coast of Northern Europe — commonly known as the Hanseatic League — assured that the free city-state of Hamburg was completely under the control of commercial enterprises.
Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6, Op. 74 “Pathétique” Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) died a mere nine days after conducting the première of his final composition. Composed between February and August 1893, his Symphony No 6 was first given on
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart famously told Gottfried van Swieten, a diplomat, librarian and esteemed patron of music, “Bach is the father. We are the children!” Interestingly, Mozart did not have Johann Sebastian in mind, but referred to Carl Philipp Emanuel instead.
When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach joined the royal court of Frederick the Great of Prussia as an accompanist in 1740, a stable of some 17 musicians primarily devoted to the performance of chamber music greeted him. The monarch himself was
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 To prove his potential earnings from composition to his highly skeptical father-in-law —we all remember that Friedrich Wieck had taken Robert to court in order to prevent the “old alcoholic” from
