Coming off of the success of his first two operas, young Erich Wolfgang Korngold set out to write his third. His success was so massive, that opera houses all over duked it out for the rights to stage the premier, leaving Korngold with the tough decision of who to give those rights to.
Have you ever tried recalling a tune from a film you love and have a hard time remembering what it is? Or, have you been so mesmerized by a tune that you’ll never forget it in all your days? Ben Morales Frost, a composer of film scores, is a strong advocate for the use of melody in film music. In this episode, Ben talks about some of his own film scores as well as some of his favorites that have inspired him.
The world of opera isn’t all glitz and glam. Opera maker Evan Kassof has dedicated his life to telling stories in a way that gives audiences a chance to step out of the opera house and potentially stumble upon something new in an unsuspecting place. Evan voices his opinions about the opera world of the past and how he is actively pushing the art in a direction that gives more people the chance to see the artform in a brand new light.
Mother Goose has been a staple in many a child’s life. Her tales of magic and adventure inspire wonder, and even in adulthood, her stories touch us. They certainly were of great importance to Maurice Ravel, who wrote a piano suite using several fairytales, and was so touched by them that he orchestrated them and then turned it into a ballet.
Trevor Kowalski, an American composer based in Los Angeles, uses his years of training in various styles of music to compose for a wide variety of projects, collaborating with award-winning filmmakers, international game developers, theater directors, and various arrangements of ensembles. Trevor has been a part of The Composer Chronicles since day one; his music uploaded to the library Epidemic Sound has been in the background of many of these episodes. After sharing his unique career, Trevor talks about the beauty of music by American composers and their influence on his own sound.
When Ralph Vaughan Williams was rummaging through old hymnals, he discovered a tune by a composer of England’s past Thomas Tallis. This simple tune would inspire Vaughan Williams to write a work for string quartet and double string orchestra, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. In creating this piece he melded two worlds together, the modern with the old, clearing the dust from a long forgotten tune and bringing it to new heights.
Ah… February. The month of love… There was a lot of love to go around in February 2021, but was it all worth it? Let’s find out?
The music of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, IV: Oblivion, and V: Skyrim turned the tides of video game music composing. Their music sets the tone for the magical worlds that the heroes of Tamriel explore in these vast fantasy games, and musicologist Andrew Shaw has been able to draw narrative connections between the three games with just the music alone.
Every piece of music Anton Bruckner ever wrote was dedicated to God, and his Symphony No. 9 was no exception. What is strange though is that it almost seems as if Bruckner knew that he would be leaving this symphony unfinished.
Sometimes one road leads us down another that we never expected to find ourselves wandering on. British composer Barnaby Martin has been active in the music world since a young age, but it wasn’t until later in life that his career as a composer led him to becoming a prominent video essayist on his YouTube channel Listening In.
