We think of Debussy as the composer of the dreamworld sound of impressionism. He was an active follower of the symbolist movement, which rejected naturalism, realism, and clear-cut forms in favour of the indefinite and the mysterious. The symbolist poets

An exhibition just opened in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, on the artistic legacy of Franco Zeffirelli (1923-2019). In talking to people at the opening, so many remember so many different aspects of his art: one remembers his film of Romeo

We don’t really think about what the heart symbol (♥) really means. We know it’s not the shape of a real heart, which is much more asymmetrical. It’s been discovered in jewelry dating back to 3,000 years BCE, and is

The master ceramic designer Johann Joachim Kändler observed the world around him and re-created it for the ceramic company Meissen. Kändler, through his work, established the appropriate scale and style for porcelain figures, based on his previous training as a

In 1962, the American poet William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) published his last book of poetry, Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems. The book opens with a ten-poem cycle based on paintings by the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca.

“Fine and Delicate Taste Is the Fruit of Education and Experience” The popular French expression “le violon d’Ingres” essentially makes reference to a secondary skill or hobby, that is, an activity done in one’s leisure time. This figurative term originated

Usually when we write about musicians and artists, we write about how one inspires the other, either how an artist might choose a musical work as the inspiration for his work or how a composer might choose to portray a

The most famous opera in America had its premiere 70 years ago on Christmas Eve. At its debut, it was estimated that it had audience of 5 million people – a record for any opera. Giancarlo Menotti’s Amahl and the