Even people who don’t know much about opera — in other words, most of us — likely will recognize the “Largo al factotum” aria...
Category - Opera
Kathleen Battle’s website likes her: Soprano Kathleen Battle’s luminous voice has been called “…without qualification, one of the very...
Here is Verdi’s bio: Giuseppe Verdi was to opera in the Italian tradition what Beethoven was to the symphony. When he arrived on the scene some had...
The great tenor sings Ave Maria. Pavarotti was born in 1935. We had some fun with a Pavarotti/Spice Girls collaboration a while back. The truth is that he...
Opera is a complex and demanding form of music. It makes no sense for an individual who doesn’t really understand it to offer commentary or opinions. It...
The Spice Girls made their debut on this day in 1996 on the British show Top of the Pops. Above they sing Viva Forever with Hairy Spice, who also was known as...
Reading Music
The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.
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Here are some books to check out.
Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.
What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.
The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").
David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.