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.
Desert Island? No problem. I’d take the five Beethoven Cello Sonatas hands down. Spanning all three periods of Beethoven’s life they essentially depict his whole life story — from the lyrical Sonata in F major Op. 5 Nr. 1 to
When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born on 8 March 1714 in the city of Weimar, his father was employed as court organist at the ducal court. By then, Johann Sebastian had already acquired a fierce reputation as an organ
In 1853, with a stack of original compositions in his backpack, Johannes Brahms (1833-1896) finally found enough courage to visit his musical hero Robert Schumann. Their brief encounter prompted Schumann to pen his famous article “Neue Bahnen” (New Paths) —
First published as “The One Horse Open Sleigh” in 1857, “Jingle Bells” has become one of the most recognized and best-loved Christmas songs. Originally, however, it was neither connected with Christmas nor was it commercially successful. Only after the composer
The Italian ensemble sonata — in the mold established by Arcangelo Corelli — took Europe by storm. It was soon imitated and adapted by composers far and wide, and Corelli himself brought the genre to England. John Jenkins, Henry Purcell
One would be hard pressed not to agree with the assessment of a contemporary music critic, who described the Viennese Waltz as a direct expression of sensuality. In the hands of Johann Strauss II, known as the “Waltz King,” this
The famed violinmakers of Cremona — Nicolò Amati, Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Bartolomeo Guarneri — initiated a golden age of string music in Italy. Various important centers of violin making, performing and composition began to emerge around 1650, with the
Poulenc’s musical style, thematic materials and even tonal structures build from established musical practices, which are transformed into something unique. The American composer and essayist Ned Rorem concocted an amusing little recipe to explain the Poulenc sound. “Take Chopin’s dominant
