Pietro Mascagni: Visione lirica In 1921, Italian composer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945), having finished his latest verismo opera, Il piccolo Marat, he shut himself away to fight the modernism that seemed to be taking over opera. He stopped writing almost entirely

The household is in an uproar – the cat is at the meat, a bottle is broken on the floor, a heavy book is being trodden on, the backgammon board is overturned, a pocket watch lies open, and the lute

The ceramic modeler Johann Joachim Kändler designed many music objects for the porcelain maker Meissen. In addition to the figures of the singer with the fox at the keyboard, he also did other figurines of singers. This group of two

Kaija Saariaho: Orion – I. Memento mori A painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art was the unexpected inspiration for composer Kaija Saariaho’s orchestral work Orion. Orion was the giant hunter in Greek mythology. A son of Poseidon, he was

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) is frequently called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. Machiavelli’s best-known book Il Principe (The Prince) was written around 1513 and contemplates a new type of ruler not guided by the conventions of heredity.

Peter Maxwell Davies: 5 Klee Pictures After his graduation from Manchester, British composer Peter Maxwell Davies’ first position was with the Cirencester Grammar School. In his three years there, he wrote a number of works for their orchestra, the first

Sean Shepherd: Express Abstractionism In the 20th century, there was a deliberate effort in art to get away from the literal, the real, and the representative and into the realms of the mind. Abstract Expressionism was just one of those

The Bavarian State Painting Collection has a painting from the late 17th century that just begs the question of where the artist got the inspiration for his work. The prolific Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) was a contributor