How often we relax to the quintessential melodies of Spain’s Isaac Albéniz (1860 – 1909). His Rapsodia Espanola, Sevilla and Granada, based on Catalan folk songs, are perhaps the better-known of his compositions. These exquisite heartrending melodies evoke the Spanish dream more than could any Goya painting but what of the man behind the music?
In a letter dated October 1866, French composer Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) went straight to the point of opera: ‘As a musician, I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.’
Happy Birthday to You is said to be the most popular song in the English language. Being translated into at least 18 languages, it has been promoted all over the world and is sung for the birthday boy or girl by the guests celebrating the occasion. The melody used in this song dates back to the late 19th century, and it was used for the song Good Morning to All.
There are some extraordinary women. The extraordinary is to be discovered on the inside of women. They are the women who feel, those who think deeply and passionately. Their inner world is so vast, it seems that this scope has no bottom. Their speech is beautiful as if reading a wonderful book, listening to Chopin, looking at Botticelli’s paintings… – filling up their hearts and intellect.
Whispering Hope is one of Western civilisation’s most engaging and enduring ballads. I was told by my Liverpool-Irish mother that at the onset of World War II, the suicide rate went through the roof, such was the anti-war sentiment.
Although 23 years have passed since I missed that telephone call, I never forgot the message left on the answering machine. The caller was one of the world’s most successful balladeers. Charlie Landsborough’s voice was unmistakable as he thanked me for the impact my poetry had on him.
Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler had much in common. The first was Italian yet he liberated and led the French nation. The latter was of Austrian birth but freed and championed the German people. Napoleon put an end to French revolutionary abuses. Adolf Hitler brought an end to the corruption and banking houses usurious deprivation following the victors’ vicious terms inflicted upon Germany after World War One.
In a letter dated October 1866, French composer Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) went straight to the point of opera: ‘As a musician, I tell you that if you were to suppress adultery, fanaticism, crime, evil, the supernatural, there would no longer be the means for writing one note.’
Herbert von Karajan (5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the German renaissance, the National Socialist era (1933-1945), he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
How often do we relax to the quintessential melodies of Spain’s Isaac Albéniz (1860 – 1909). His Rapsodia Espanola, Sevilla and Granada, based on Catalan folk songs, are perhaps the better known of his compositions. These exquisite mind-bending melodies evoke the Spanish dream more than could any Goya painting; but what of the man behind the music?
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Europe Renaissance 
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