The quirky science fiction blockbuster The Fifth Element is set in the 23rd century and features an intergalactic struggle for the survival of planet Earth. This task falls on Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), a taxi driver and former Special Forces

She was the great-niece of the influential violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim and had a decidedly psychic disposition! Her exotic and colorful name was Jelly d’Aranyi, and during a séance in 1933, Robert Schumann told her to premiere his “long-lost” violin

If you think that all classical music has to be deadly serious, let me introduce you to Jacques Ibert (1890-1962). Ibert was a graduate from the Paris Conservatoire who won the coveted Prix de Rome at his first attempt despite

Charles-Marie Widor’s 10 organ symphonies, inspired by the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint-Sulpice in Paris revolutionized the art of organ playing and composition in France. However, the composer also left behind a substantial number of meticulously crafted compositions for a

The combination of music and imagery—as we have known since antiquity—is one of the most powerful psychological agents acting directly on human emotions. And ever since sound was first coupled with images at the turn of the 20th century, classical

When we think of the composer Bernard Herrmann, we think of his film music and how it could carry a scene. Think about it: after you see Psycho, with those, literally, slashing strings, did you ever take a shower with

Forget about unattainable lovers, idealized beauty or threatening nature! When it comes to artistic inspiration and musings, nothing has been more popular than death! Indeed, death is a cruel mistress to us all! Gruesome inevitability aside, death has inspired some

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Vienna acted like a gigantic magnet for composers and musicians. Talented individuals from the surrounding areas and all parts of Europe streamed into the city hoping to make their mark in