The Swan That Will Never Die
The ballet we’ll watch today is known by two names – The Swan and The Dying Swan. The second title seems to be more expressive, and more accurate; nevertheless, it has failed to displace the first one. There are good…
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The ballet we’ll watch today is known by two names – The Swan and The Dying Swan. The second title seems to be more expressive, and more accurate; nevertheless, it has failed to displace the first one. There are good…
Franz Schubert wasn’t blessed with happy love. The composer twice experienced deep affection for women who were above him in social status. One of them returned his feelings, yet they couldn’t marry; another treated him as a friendly acquaintance. Schubert’s…
“I died for beauty, but was scarce” conjures up pictures linked with the macabre physicality of death – the narrator is a decaying corpse. This poem should be frightening and unpleasant… It attracts, even comforts the reader though.
Walking through Vologda, you’ll find the central square with ease: the orthodox “onion” domes of its church ensemble are visible from far away. The gilded dome belongs to a pseudo-gothic belfry. It resembles a beautiful woman who wants to be…
If you have been to an old cemetery, you have seen how cruel time is. Even the headstones which were placed a hundred years ago often seem half-destroyed: sad angels without heads sit on the cracked steles, names of the…
What do we do when the first act of an opera ends, the curtain falls, and the entr’acte begins? We rush off to the buffet, of course. Relaxation with a glass of good sparkling wine – that’s what entr’actes are…
Pieces of classical music tend to be relatively long. Even their separate parts often last up to fifteen minutes. Fine themes unfold gradually and enter into complicated relationships with each other. Preludes by Frédéric Chopin from Op. 28, in contrast,…
Many tourists try to photograph of St. Vitus Cathedral in its entirety. They squat, even lie on the ground, but to no avail: the grand building refuses to squeeze into a shot and become a Facebook story.
If you have a chance to see The Rite of Spring on a stage, buy tickets right now! I promise: you won’t fall asleep during the performance. When it comes to the end, you will be jumping with excitement… or…
The time machine, which science fiction authors often dream about, already exists. This is music. It can transport us to the very distant past, up to the beginning of AD: the oldest surviving example of musical symbols is dated to…