New stories on MusicTales

1. 

   Saxophone

   Pixinguinha: Brazilian saxophonist who established choro music as a pop genre

   Pixinguinha, born Alfredo da Rocha Viana, Jr., was an iconic figure in Brazilian popular music who defined its new…

   September 26, 2019

2. 

   Nature Sounds

   Cantus Arcticus: bird calls arranged for orchestra by Einojuhani Rautavaara were taped in Northern Finland

   Cantus Arcticus is a three-part orchestral work created by the eminent Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara with the…

   September 22, 20191 comment

3. 

   Orchestra

   The Flower Duet of Lakmé: the love drama of an Indian girl and a British soldier made airborne

   The Flower Duet is a famous operatic duet which popularity has spread far beyond interests of classical music audience…

   September 18, 2019

4. 

   Electric Guitar

   Adrian Belew's spellbinding guitar tricks saturate prog music with the sounds of space

   American multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Adrian Belew managed to extract entirely extraordinary sounds from his…

   September 15, 2019

5. 

   Poetry

   Zefiro Torna: famous madrigal by Monteverdi lauds the west wind that brings spring

   Originating in the 14th century as a poetic form, the madrigal is a short poem of lyrical content. During the…

   September 11, 2019

6. 

   Songwriter

   The morna: essential music of the Cape Verde archipelago reached mainland thanks to Cesária Évora's voice

   With roots in the 18th-century Cape Verde, the morna music is a vital and culturally definitive genre of the…

   September 8, 2019

7. 

   Orchestra

   Mozart and Tom Waits wrote music for the glass armonica which was rumored to cause mental health damage

   The glass armonica is one of many curious instruments that came into use with small ensembles during the transition…

   September 3, 20191 comment

8. 

   Vihuela

   Orphénica Lyra: the largest collection of vihuela music introduced by Miguel de Fuenllana

   Vihuela is a Renaissance-era musical instrument similar to a modern mini guitar. It is believed that the first vihuelas…

   August 31, 2019

9. 

   Sitar

   The tapped harmonics of Balaram Pathak's sitar

   Balaram Pathak was not only one of the most talented Indian classical musicians of the 20th century but also the mind…

   August 27, 2019

10. 

    Music Theory

    Classic examples of the Phrygian mode through the music eras

    From Middle Ages to modernity, Western music has been largely based on diatonic scales that organize seven notes into…

    August 24, 20194 comments

11. 

    Piano

    Spanish motifs contributed by Emmanuel Chabrier to the rise of Impressionism in France

    Emmanuel Chabrier was a French composer of the Romantic era whose legal career forced him to study and write music…

    August 21, 20191 comment

12. 

    Mandolin

    Jacob do Bandolim: amateur musician who instilled mandolin fashion throughout America

    Jacob Pick Bittencourt, nicknamed Jacob do Bandolim or Mandolin Jacob, was a Brazilian musician and composer working in…

    August 18, 2019

13. 

    Choir

    Mass in B minor: how to separate original scores of J.S. Bach from his son's later edits?

    The Mass in B minor is one of the latest works of J.S. Bach in which he set a liturgical Latin text to music. Clocking…

    August 13, 2019

14. 

    Koto

    First compositions for koto presented out of court by Yatsuhashi Kengyō in the 17th century

    Yatsuhashi Kengyō was a 17th-century Japanese composer who created a new concept of koto music, introducing the…

    August 11, 2019

15. 

    Piano

    Songs for Drella: the minimalistic tribute to Andy Warhol that united his beloved artists for the first time since 1960s

    As an absolutely iconic figure in the visual art movement known as pop art, Andy Warhol had a profound influence on the…

    August 6, 2019

16. 

    Technologies

    Pianola: the reproducing piano as the first Hi-Fi player and preservation capsule for recitals on piano rolls

    Long before the recording era, mankind was already looking for ways to play music automatically. The earliest known…

    August 3, 20191 comment

17. 

    Classical Guitar

    Serenata Española by Joaquim Malats: the piano piece that conquered guitar world

    Serenata Española, written by Spanish piano virtuoso Joaquim Malats, has been the most popular work among guitarists…

    July 31, 2019

18. 

    Veena

    Muthuswami Dikshitar: South Indian composer and poet who embellished Carnatic repertoire 200 years ago

    Muthuswami Dikshitar was the most influential Indian composer representing Carnatic tradition which is most present in…

    July 27, 20192 comments

19. 

    Manuscript

    Rich music collection of the Trecento times recovered from Florentine palimpsest

    It is difficult to imagine, in the current digital world, the serious difficulties associated with recording any…

    July 23, 2019

20. 

    Songwriter

    The resonance of African tribal heritage in Ali Farka Touré's guitar

    Ali Farka Touré was one of the first Malian songwriters to arrange African folk music for acoustic and electric guitar,…

    July 20, 2019