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Classical Music About the Night: 10+ Evocative Works Inspired by the Darkness
For as long as composers have been writing music, they’ve been inspired by the mystery, mood, and mythology of the night. We’ve gathered ten pieces of classical music about the night that explore themes associated with the hours after dark,
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  • Which Composers Were Gay? (And How Do We Know?) Which Composers Were Gay? (And How Do We Know?)
    The history of classical music spans centuries. Over that time, society has had very different ideas about sexual identities (when they verbalized them at all). It goes without saying that it’s unfair to look back in time and breezily apply
  • Vagn Holmboe: “Moya”—7 Japanese Songs Vagn Holmboe: “Moya”—7 Japanese Songs
    In Japanese architecture “moya” designates the core or central part of a residential building. When Buddhism was introduced to the country in the 6th century, “moya” became the designation of the sacred central area of a temple building. In the
  • What is Olden? What is Olden?
    Several pieces have the word ‘olden’ in their titles. We’ll look at 4 works and see that each composer carries a different meaning for the word. Henryk Górecki: 3 Olden Style Pieces Górecki combined elements of folk origins with modern
  • Brahms for Beginners: Twelve Pieces to Make You Love Brahms Brahms for Beginners: Twelve Pieces to Make You Love Brahms
    Johannes Brahms was born in 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. He ended his life one of the undisputed giants of nineteenth century music. Here are a few facts about his life and music: Brahms spent his career caught up in an
  • Big and Small All At Once: The Violoncello Big and Small All At Once: The Violoncello
    The bigger brother of the violin and viola, the violoncello actually has two different names hidden in its name: it starts with viol (like violin and viola) and then has the Italian ending -one, meaning big, and ends with the