The Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1609-1669) brought Dutch painting to its Golden Age – matching Dutch society’s great wealth and cultural achievements with an innovative and creative style of painting. He trained the generations of artists that followed him
In tune
Helen of Sparta was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Sadly, she was married to a drab, conceited and seriously overweight king. When her lover Paris—who turns out to be the Prince of Troy—couldn’t take it any longer,
The ancients described the sound of the Aeolian harp as “music played without human hands.” As such, Romantic poets considered the instrument a source of natural and divine inspiration. Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes in his The Eolian Harp, of 1795:
The Swiss symbolist painter, Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901) took the world of mythology as his source of inspiration. His most famous painting, Die Toteninsel (The Isle of the Dead), painted in multiple versions between 1880 and 1886, was the inspiration for
When the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra got ready for a performance of the Brahms Requiem recently, two members of the audience began singing the old civil rights tune, “Which Side are You on?” Other protestors seated on the main floor
One of the best modern works in the choral tradition is Randall Thompson’s cycle based on the settings of verses from Isiah. The Peaceable Kingdom was inspired by the 1826 painting by the same name by the Quaker artist and
A recent concert by the magnificent Emerson Quartet featured Alban Berg’s ‘Lyric Suite for String Quartet’ (1925). An annotated copy of Berg’s composition which he had given to his mistress, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin was discovered by the Berg scholar George Perle
Cheryl had lost most of her hearing abilities by her late 60s. Her hearing had deteriorated so much that she could barely hear people on the phone, and her partners playing bridge together would have to repeat their bids extra