By Felix Dupin Music is a language we hear and decipher unknowingly since the earliest period of youth. Although expressing both passion and creativity, music is also made of rules and whether studied intellectually or not, it is perfectly comprehensible to the untrained ear and evolved organically transmitting both creative energy and lawful harmonies, consonances,…
Category: Music
Calixa Lavallée: Father of Canada’s National Anthem and Lafayette of American music
By Matthew Ehret Many may have heard of the name Calixa Lavallée as the composer of the song “Ô Canada” which officially became the Canadian National anthem one hundred years after it was first produced in 1880. Many know of the name Marquis de Lafayette as the young French nobleman, who changed the course of…
Mozart: Sublime Composer of Revolution
By Nancy Spannaus [Originally published on American System Now] Two hundred and sixty-seven years ago today, one of the greatest musical talents[1] known to history was born. I refer to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), composer of all genres of classical music, both vocal and instrumental. Most particularly, I am pointing to his operas, which qualify him,…
Sergei Rachmaninoff Re-Envisioned for the Twenty-First Century
On Saturday, April 1, the Russian History Museum commemorated the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth with an online lecture by Dr. Valeria Z. Nollan. The lecture, “Sergei Rachmaninoff Re-Envisioned for the Twenty-First Century,” was presented as part of the Russian History Museum’s Second Saturday online lecture series. Nollan’s lecture was based on Sergei Rachmaninoff: Cross Rhythms of…
Song of the Volga Boatmen and The Sacred War
Let us all remember today and give thanks to Russia’s noble sacrifice. This has for many years been a very touching Russian folk song close to my heart so I thought I would share with you all. This is a beautiful choral performance of “Song of the Volga Boatmen”: Below is a famous rousing performance…
Germany’s Stockholm Syndrome and the Firing of Valery Gergiev
By Cynthia Chung “No, there is a limit to the tyrant’s power! When the oppressed man finds no justice, When the burden grows unbearable, he appeals with fearless heart to heaven, and thence brings down his everlasting rights, which there abide, inalienably his, and indestructible as stars themselves. The primal state of nature reappears, wherein man…
Celebrate Beethoven, Composer of Freedom
By Nancy Spannaus Two hundred and fifty-one years ago, on December 16, 1770, the world welcomed the birth of the man I call the “Composer of Freedom,” Ludwig van Beethoven. Let us celebrate Beethoven today for his historical and ongoing contributions to liberating mankind from tyranny and ugliness, including in our own republic. Although Beethoven…
Alma Deutscher’s Plea for Harmony Strikes a Universal Chord
An incredible speech was given by the 14 year old composer Alma Deutscher upon receiving the European Culture Prize at the Vienna State Opera on October 20, 2019. At this prestigious ceremony, the young musician, whose works have sent shock waves through the musical world since she began composing at young age of 6 made…
Tuning Humanity to the Universe: The Role of Education in Shaping Global Citizens
In this address delivered to the last session of the 22nd International Conference of Chief Justices of the World organized by India’s City Montessori School, Matthew Ehret (representing Dr. Edward Lozansky- President of the American University in Moscow) delivered remarks on the role of education in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and also advance…
Beethoven’s Letters
By Cynthia Chung It is indeed very hard to come by anyone who has never heard of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers of all time. However, despite this level of fame which has followed him, nearly 200 years after his death, there is little that is truly known about the man himself….