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.
The German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) wrote a book titled Harmonice Mundi (The Harmony of the World) in 1619. He had been working on the book for roughly 20 years, establishing celestial-harmonic relationships. He also abandoned the Pythagorean
The question as to what makes us human has been pondered for many thousands of years. While there are multiple theories, we can probably say that humans are unique. In fact, the very act of contemplating what makes us human
The piece opens with a crash that quickly fades away. This is Albanian-British composer Thomas Simaku’s piano work Catena III–Corona. A product of the first lockdown that started in March 2020, when about half the world’s population had to stay
Although we generally associate the symphonic poem with Liszt and mainly German composers, it also popped up in other countries, one of the most interesting being Mexico. Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940) had a distinguished career as a conductor, principally as assistant
As we welcome 2024, societal friendship and harmony are once again nowhere to be found. Hostilities, violence, intimidation, and wars are overrunning the planet on a virulent wave of entitlement and righteousness. In her poem “The Rock Cries out to
We know the ‘barcarolle’ most famously from Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, but relatively few other composers picked up on it. In Offenbach’s opera, the barcarolle, ‘Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour’ (Beautiful night, oh night of love) opens Act III where
What started out as a 16th-century dance song was changed in the 19th century into a Christmas carol. In Thoinot Arbeau’s Orchésographie, a study of late Renaissance French dance, published in 1589, he gave instruction on social behaviour in the
In a longer take on the traditional carol, English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams made a ‘fantasia’ on three carols from southern England to create an atmospheric work for baritone, chorus, and orchestra. Given its premiere at the Three Choirs Festival
