Tagged: music

Ivan Turgenev

Turgenev and Tchaikovsky

In this brief article, scholar, editor, and translator Luis Sundkvist explores the life of noted Russian author Ivan Turgenev and considers ways in which his life and work intersected with the Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Biography...

Major General’s Song — Gilbert and Sullivan

In “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan’s character introduces himself by presenting an absurdly detailed résumé in the musical form of a “patter...

Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women

Thoreau’s Flute by Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott, best known for her novel Little Women, admired her Transcendentalist neighbors, Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. During Louisa’s elementary school years, Thoreau was her teacher, and in Moods, one...

New Year poems, and of course, Auld Lang Syne.

New Year Poems

How better to mark the close of an old year and the coming of a new than with poetry or song? Here are a few favorite classic New Year’s Eve poems to help you...

Washington Irving, 1783-1859

Washington Irving Timeline

Washington Irving’s place in history This timeline documents major events and influences on Washington Irving’s life and work. It begins by outlining the events and publications in Irving’s life, then looks at American literature, visual...

Poems by Emily Dickinson - 12 are set to music by composer Aaron Copeland.

Dickinson and Copland: Poems and Music

Composer Aaron Copeland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson provides a creative musical approach to Emily Dickinson that may help you hear her poems anew. This composition by Aaron Copeland was performed for the recital “For...

The Brontë sisters portrait by Bromwell Brontë

Brontë Resources Index

The Brontë sisters read widely, wrote passionately, and created enduring works drawn from their surroundings and imagination. Explore their writings and their world through the resources below. Charlotte Brontë Emily Brontë Brontë Sisters Context...

Swift by Jervas, oil on canvas

Jonathan Swift Resources

Jonathan Swift Resources Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) wrote some of the most brilliant prose in the English language and is often regarded as its foremost satirist. While best known for his masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels and,...

Ancient Greek Literature Resources Index

Ancient Greek resources currently available on our site include: “Why Study the Pagans?” by Cheryl Lowe “Why We Read the Odyssey” by Deborah Stokol Introduction to Greek Tragedy Introduction to Classical Greek Literature by...

Thomas Tallis Medieval Music

Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585) is an English Renaissance composer of choral music. He is considered one of England’s greatest composers, and served at court as a composer, organist, and performer for several monarchs...

Tchaikovsky’s Tempest Overture

Tchaikovsky and Shakespeare One of the most influential composers of the 19th century and the first Russian composer to achieve lasting international fame, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is best known today for his ballets Swan...

Introduction to Medieval Music by Cynthia Cyrus

Introduction to Medieval Music Cynthia J. Cyrus Last modified on June 18, 2003 Introduction The medieval musical experience is impossible to recapture, for most of the music of daily life is lost to us....

Level 3 Resource Updates

American Literature Updates Due to the ever-changing nature of the Internet, online resources often move unexpectedly to new addresses. Here are the updates for Level 3: American Literature that have happened since the most...

World Literature Videos

Videos referenced in World Literature (E5) Study Guide: World Literature (Excellence in Literature, English 5) Module 1 Ancient Greek Music – Macedonia Module 2 Antigone on stage Module 3 Roman Water Wheel, London Museum Roman Weapons...

British Literature Videos

Each module has a page with links from the British Literature study guide, and those pages will have the most complete listings of all the helpful resources you’ll use for that module. However, I...

Out of Africa soundtrack music

The soundtrack for the film Out of Africa has beautiful and evocative music. Get it from your library or bookstore and listen to it as you study. You can listen to an excerpt in...

Schumann Faust Overture Music

Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (Szenen aus Goethes Faust), a musical-theatrical work by composer Robert Schumann, is considered one of Schumann’s most moving works. This three-part composition suggests the struggle between good and evil at...

The Damnation of Faust by Berlioz

French Romantic composer and conductor Hector Berlioz was inspired by Goethe’s Faust to compose “The Damnation of Faust,” a free-form oratorio or opera (Berlioz ultimately called it a “légende dramatique”). It is most often heard in...

Ancient Greek Music Macedonia

The Music of Ancient Greece Music is a significant aspect of Hellenic culture, both within Greece and in the diaspora, and the music of Greece is as diverse and celebrated as its history. Greek...

Robinson Crusoe Theme Music from 1970s TV show

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was a French-German children’s television drama series made by Franco London Films (a.k.a. FLF Television Paris). The series was based on the first of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe novels, but...

Offenbach score for Robinson Crusoe opera

Robinson Crusoe Opera by Jacques Offenbach

Offenbach’s Opera Version of Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe’s early novel, Robinson Crusoe, has inspired artists and musicians for generations. Jacques Offenbach (1890–1880) wrote an opéra comique called Robinson Crusoé which was first performed at...

G. B. Shaw’s Reception of Don Giovanni

Scholars have long recognized the importance of structural aspects of Mozart’s music on George Bernard Shaw’s dramas. Here is the text of a talk given by Gareth Cox, a leading authority on Shaw.