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.
Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand” (Bavarian Radio Symphony, Kubelik 1970) When the Mahler family arrived in Maiernigg — an idyllic village located on the southern shore of Lake Wörth in the Austrian province of Carinthia — for their
Throughout the 17th century, all forms of staged musical theater were strictly forbidden during Lenten season. To substitute for this lack of operatic entertainment, this period of fasting and prayer that prepares believers for the celebration of Easter did see
Almost immediately after the premiere of Oberto in 1839, a contemporary critic considered the question of Verdi’s personal musical style. “Many salient features of this style are not Signor Verdi’s own,” he wrote. “The crescendo and the use — not
Within the enormous variety and diversity of musical compositions, only a select few ever manage to withstand the test of time. One such work is the “Chaconne” from the Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, composed by
Giuseppe Verdi was one of the most precocious musical talents of all times. At age three, he was given a spinet and took up studies with Don Pietro Baistrocchi, organist at his home village of Roncale. When Baistrocchi passed away
Giacomo Meyerbeer followed the tremendous financial and artistic success of Robert le diable with another blockbuster. Les Huguenots, five years in the making, dramatically staged the bloody events of the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris in August of 1572,
On December 11, 1803, Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), who might be considered one of the fullest embodiments of the Romantic Movement, was born in a small provincial town in the French Alps. In his memoirs, he detailed with great clarity and
In November 1901, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) first met Alma Schindler, Vienna’s most eligible Bachelorette. Stepdaughter of the painter Carl Moll, Alma took painting lessons from Gustav Klimt and composition lessons from Josef Labor and Alexander Zemlinsky, with whom she also