"Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity."
As philosopher Richard Wollheim says, art is "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture." In its simplest manifestation, art is a form of communication that serves as a vehicle for the expression of emotions and ideas. As ideas and beliefs are culturally specific and constantly changing over time, there really is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art. That being said, the classical branches of the visual arts are identified as painting, sculpture and architecture. Literature and poetry are considered part of the humanities or as one of the arts, while music, alongside theatre, film and dance belong to the performing arts. In this section you will discover not only specific explorations of individual art forms, but also a more detailed probing of the relationship between the visual arts and music, including painting and music, sculpture and music and architecture and music. Originally, poetry and music were treated as a unity, but gradually they have become more independent. Nevertheless, the two art forms have never forgotten their shared genetic makeup, and been intertwined for millennia. Art and music have engaged in a dynamic relationship that reveals a diverse range of human activity intended to be appreciated for their beauty.
All Tags Bach Bach C. P. E. Bach J. C. Beethoven Berlioz Berwald Brahms Burney Busoni Chabrier Chausson Chopin Corelli Davies Debussy Dowland Falla Fauré Feldman Francaix Fuchs Gershwin Gottschalk Grieg Hindemith Loewe Mendelssohn Montalbetti Mozart Mussorgsky Poulenc R. Strauss Ravel Satie Schoenberg Schubert Schumann Scriabin Shostakovich Still Stravinsky Vaughan Williams Verdi Wagner
Musicians and Artists: Busoni and Boccioni by Maureen Buja January 17th, 2021 Tags: Busoni
When we look at artists and their friends, sometimes its because, in each of their realms, the artist and the composer may have similar stylistic thoughts. In other cases, however, the works of the two artists may be completely opposite.
When the Eye Meets the Ear
How Are Intricate Music Concepts Represented in Visual Arts by Doug Thomas November 30th, 2020
In my article When the Ear Meets the Eye, I mentioned how music and visual arts have collaborated throughout the years, and particularly how composers have taken inspiration in works of visual art to create their own musical works. I
The Music of Poetry
John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale by Maureen Buja November 29th, 2020
In the woods in May 1819, a nightingale sings of summer and her notes fall on the ears of the poet John Keats. He uses the metaphor of the audible but invisible bird, singing to the open skies, as a
Goethe: "The Book of Suleika" II by Georg Predota November 15th, 2020
The Suleika figure we find in Felix Mendelssohn's settings is far less Oriental and feminine than the one found in his sisters reading. Some scholars have suggested that chromaticism is traditionally linked with Orientalism. "It is supposed to embody cultural
Goethe: "The Book of Suleika" by Georg Predota November 8th, 2020
Throughout the 19th century, the Orient raised scholarly interest and provided subjects for lyric poetry, fantasies and novels. Embodying everything that was exotic, erotic, and decadent, the orientalising fetish as it has been called, was fueled by two important sources
Musicians and Artists: Fuchs and Wyeth by Maureen Buja November 6th, 2020 Tags: Fuchs
It's one of the most dramatic of American paintings. On a large grassy field, a woman sits on the ground, turned with her back to the viewer, facing a rolling hill. Her body is twisted, her left hand in front
Alfred de Musset: "La coupe et les lèvres" by Georg Predota October 25th, 2020
When Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was commissioned to compose a new opera in 1884, his choice of story fell on Edgar, a tragedy inspired by La coupe et les lèvres by Alfred de Musset. The librettist Ferdinando Fontana took some liberties,
Musicians and Artists: Bruegel and Ferneyhough by Maureen Buja October 24th, 2020
Flailing and falling, so Icarus descends from the skies, having melted his wings in the heat of the sun. In this landscape, we see life going on and then, in the bottom right corner of the work, the legs of