Tag: Music Box
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Medicine, musically
Willem Blois Halifax, Nova Scotia Robert Pope, Visitors (1989) “This painting is like a psychological ecosystem, where the worlds of healthy and sick meet.” (Pope 1991) I sat on the piano bench, head down, staring at the space between middle C and the key above it. I could see my teacher out of the…
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The lost art and the hidden treasure
Jennifer Bingham Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania It is the moment we catch ourselves wishing someone had mentioned how many pieces were in this puzzle that we look up to find progress. Photo by Pixabay from Pexels. The puzzle box is empty and the pieces are scattered across the table. After all, a puzzle was never meant…
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The smell of burning rubber: The fatal illness of George Gershwin
James L. Franklin Chicago, Illinois, USA George Gershwin, 28 March 1937. Photograph by Carl Van Vetchen. 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division. On the morning of Monday July 12, 1937, New Yorkers who had just suffered through five days of a heat wave that left thirty-eight people dead, awoke to read on the…
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Nicolo Paganini—a case of mercury poisoning?
Nicolo Paganini, the greatest violin virtuoso ever, was born in the Republic of Genoa in 1782. At age five he learned to play the mandolin and at seven the violin. When his city was invaded by the French Revolutionary Army in 1796, his family fled the city but later returned, and by age eighteen, Paganini…
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Sergei Rachmaninov, the pianist with very big hands
Sergei Rachmaninov, the famous Russian composer, pianist, and composer, was born in 1873 into a family that descended from the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great. At age four he began piano lessons and already displayed remarkable talent. He was sent to study music at the St. Petersburg Conservatory when ten years old, and, upon being…
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Visualizing Mozart
Vincent de Luise New Haven, Connecticut, United States Figure 1. Portrait of Mozart by his brother-in-law, Joseph Lange (©Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum) The music, life, and legacy of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, 1756-1791) continue to fascinate and enthrall.1,10,15,19, Footnote 1 Mozart has been the subject of more books, articles, and…
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The symbolic portrait of Mozart’s patron Dr. Ferdinand Dejean
Stephen Martin Durham, United Kingdom Figure 1. Dr Ferdinand Dejean. Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Probably by Jacobus Buys. 47 x 55 cm Dr. Ferdinand Dejean (1731-1797) grew up in the Bonn Court alongside Beethoven’s father and trained as a surgeon.1,2 For ten years he worked on Dutch East India Company ships from Persian Gulf…
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In Consultation: Rachmaninoff, his physician, and the genesis of a masterpiece
Vincent de Luise New Haven, Connecticut, United States “You need color to make music come alive. Without color, music is dead.” — Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) There are piano concertos and then there are Piano Concertos. While favorites include the Tchaikovsky First, Mozart’s Twenty-first, the Beethoven Fifth (“Emperor”), and the first concertos of Brahms…
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Song as a unit for physical activity: A-minor Proposal
Cillin CondonDublin, Ireland “Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.”— Virgil Physical inactivity is recognized as a significant risk factor for diseases such as stroke, diabetes, and cancer.1 Recommendations for adults include 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, or at least 75…