Classical Music for Holy Week & Easter

By |2023-04-02T19:21:24-05:00April 2nd, 2023|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Easter, Hector Berlioz, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Music, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Timeless Essays|

Though Handel's "Messiah" rightly reigns supreme as the king of music for Easter, there are many other seasonal masterpieces that deserve to be heard more often. Here are ten lesser-known classical works that brilliantly depict the dramatic events of Holy Week and Easter Sunday. 1. "Resurrexit" from the Messe Solennelle, by Hector Berlioz (1824) The [...]

Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest Rediscovered

By |2022-07-27T18:05:09-05:00July 27th, 2022|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Culture, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Music, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Timeless Essays|

The popularity of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” has paradoxically led us to underestimate the Venetian’s true greatness. Once renowned across Europe, by the early twentieth century Vivaldi was considered a minor composer. Then, several events occurred to re-awaken interest in the music of “The Red Priest.” Inevitably, when one hears the name of Antonio Vivaldi, one [...]

“Juditha Triumphans”

By |2023-10-15T13:45:59-05:00March 3rd, 2022|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Music|

Based on the Biblical tale of the young Israelite woman who cuts off the head of the barbarian invader Holofernes, Antonio Vivaldi’s sole surviving oratorio, "Juditha Triumphans," was written to celebrate the 1716  victory of the Republic of Venice over the Turks. "Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie" (Judith triumphant over the barbarians of Holofernes), RV 644, is an oratorio by Antonio Vivaldi, the only [...]

Music and the Education of the Christian Soul

By |2020-07-19T15:18:46-05:00August 18th, 2019|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Beauty, Christianity, Culture, Happiness, Heaven, Music, Timeless Essays|

In a world ringing with noise and suffused with the more or less artful idolizing of passions divorced from objective goods, where are we to find melodies capable of penetrating our hardened hearts with spiritual truths? In Plato’s Republic, Socrates leads a group of ambitious young Athenians on a search for the best way of [...]

Vivaldi and the Cello

By |2023-07-27T22:19:10-05:00March 3rd, 2019|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Christine Norvell, Culture, Music, Senior Contributors|

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi’s music is timeless. Performed within the orchestral world, period films, and popular culture today, his works and melodies are recognizable, even to a movie crowd. Yet his work was often discredited in his lifetime because he was prolific. Composers and critics alike believed that Vivaldi’s sheer quantity of production outweighed his quality. Vivaldi and [...]

Music and the Education of the Christian Soul

By |2023-07-27T22:41:56-05:00January 5th, 2019|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Beauty, Christianity, Culture, Happiness, Heaven, Mother of God, Music, Sainthood|

In a world ringing with noise and suffused with the more or less artful idolizing of passions divorced from objective goods, where are we to find melodies capable of penetrating our hardened hearts with spiritual truths? In Plato’s Republic, Socrates leads a group of ambitious young Athenians on a search for the best way of [...]

Music of War and Remembrance: Ten Classical Pieces

By |2023-05-13T11:53:56-05:00November 11th, 2015|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Gustav Holst, Hector Berlioz, Joseph Haydn, Music, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Stephen M. Klugewicz, War|

Across the centuries, composers have been inspired by the twin dramas of human conflict and the subsequent making of peace. Here are ten great pieces of classical music that dramatize war, celebrate its resolution, and recall its sacrifices. 10. Franz Liszt: The Battle of the Huns One of the composer's many tone poems, Franz Liszt's Hunnenschlacht—written in [...]

The Top Ten Greatest Operas

By |2020-10-29T23:29:01-05:00June 23rd, 2013|Categories: Antonio Vivaldi, Audio/Video, Culture, Hector Berlioz, Music, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|

The human voice is God’s most beautiful instrument, and the blending of voices and musical instruments within the context of a dramatic visual presentation is the zenith of human artistic achievement. This is the glory of opera. Below is a list of the ten greatest operas ever composed, in order of greatness, from ten down [...]

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