Popular stories on MusicTales

1. 

   Songwriter

   Longfellow Serenade and the fireside poet that kindled Neil Diamond's song

   Longfellow Serenade is a notable 1974 hit released by Neil Diamond, a prolific American songwriter who sold more than…

   September 9, 2021

2. 

   Classical Guitar

   5 flamenco guitar pieces of Joaquín Turina as performed by the best guitarists of the 20th century

   Joaquín Turina is considered to be one of the most influential Spanish composers of the 20th century, especially for…

   August 9, 2020

3. 

   Mandolin

   Vivaldi's two mandolin concertos as the core of classical mandolin music

   Although the mandolin in its modern design can be traced from the second half of the Baroque period, its role in…

   April 22, 20201 comment

4. 

   Viol

   Bach and Abel: a collaboration that lived in two generations of composers

   The prominent German composer and multi-instrumentalist Carl Friedrich Abel was born into an extraordinary musical…

   April 7, 20191 comment

5. 

   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

6. 

   Classical Guitar

   Miguel Llobet delivered flawless skill to future stars of classical guitar worldwide

   Miguel Llobet was a Spanish guitar player, teacher, and composer whose contribution to the development of both…

   January 11, 2019

7. 

   Songwriter

   Piel Canela: meaning of Bobby Capó's biggest hit

   Piel Canela is perhaps the best-known song of Puerto Rican singer Bobby Capó who wrote a number of hits for famous…

   May 28, 2022

8. 

   Classical Guitar

   William Walton forgot that his only guitar work was written for guitar

   Great guitarist Julian Bream commissioned music from a number of composers to contribute to the creation of the modern…

   June 19, 2018

9. 

   Music Theory

   Supertonic chords: types and usage

   In musical theory, the supertonic is the second degree of a diatonic scale—the scale that consists of seven notes per…

   June 4, 2020

10. 

    Songwriter

    Rabindra Sangeet have been an essential part of Indian culture for more than a century

    A native of Calcutta, Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913—the first Asian person to receive…

    August 10, 2018

11. 

    Flute

    Bourrée: French folk dance from the Bach suite inspired prog-rock flute and the work of Sir Paul McCartney

    Bourrée is a French folk dance typically danced with quick, skipping steps. The dancers sometimes wear wooden clogs to…

    April 2, 2018

12. 

    Music Theory

    No Quarter: two minor modal modes of Led Zeppelin's psychedelic track

    No Quarter is one of Led Zeppelin's more psychedelically inclined tracks first released on the 1973 album Houses of the…

    July 22, 2021

13. 

    Technologies

    Quadraphonic vinyl reveals new Atom Heart Mother details

    In the late 1960s, after the stereo sound almost completely replaced the mono format in the recording industry, the…

    January 29, 20194 comments

14. 

    Songwriter

    Oye Mi Amor: meaning and harmony of Maná's hit

    Oye Mi Amor is one of the signature tracks of the Mexican rock band Maná. Released on their 1992 album ¿Dónde Jugarán…

    August 23, 2021

15. 

    Sitar

    Desh Raag as universal music scale

    Desh Raag is a beautiful and melodious indian classical piece, also called Monsoon Raga, which is often played at night…

    June 5, 20182 comments

16. 

    Piano

    Pavane for a Dead Princess: who inspired Ravel's early piano piece?

    Pavane pour une infante défunte or Pavane for a Dead Princess is a well-known piano piece with a leisurely and charming…

    February 17, 2021

17. 

    Songwriter

    La Mer poem became an international hit after years of searching for a melody

    Charles Trenet was one of the most influential popular French songwriters in the mid-20th century. A performer of…

    September 4, 2018

18. 

    Music Theory

    Beatles songs with harmonic minor and Aeolian modes

    One of the easily explained reasons for the continued popularity of The Beatles' songs lies in their harmonic structure…

    October 12, 2021

19. 

    Poetry

    Down by the Salley Gardens: famous Yeats poem evoking old Irish love ballad was set to the traditional air

    Down by the Salley Gardens is a famous two-stanza poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats whose contribution to the…

    April 8, 20201 comment

20. 

    Songwriter

    German roots of the Moon of Alabama

    The Alabama Song first appeared in a collection of five poems published by German playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1927,…

    August 27, 2018

21. 

    Piano

    Beethoven's famous piano trio carried the genre to the Romantic era

    Compositions written for a group of three instruments where the leading piano is usually accompanied by a violin and…

    March 29, 20192 comments

22. 

    Xylophone

    Danse Macabre: skeletal images in Saint Saens' iconic xylophone

    The concept of the Danse Macabre (literally meaning the Dance of Death) dates back to the Medieval period when European…

    March 22, 2021

23. 

    Songwriter

    Smackwater Jack: the classic tale of outlaws and lawmen and the blues harmony behind it

    Smackwater Jack is a 1971 song released by Carole King, the most successful female songwriter of the 20th century who…

    September 27, 2021

24. 

    Piano

    Nuvole Blanche: the critical simplicity of Einaudi's best-known piece

    Nuvole Blanche is one of the best-known piano pieces by the Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi released on his 2004…

    September 13, 2021

25. 

    Film

    Gabriel's Oboe: soulful Morricone tune that soothes the Iguazu Falls

    Gabriel's Oboe is a short instrumental piece written by Ennio Morricone for a key scene in Roland Joffé's period drama…

    February 27, 2021

26. 

    Classical Guitar

    Tango En Skai: light party atmosphere of Roland Dyens’ challenging guitar work

    Tango En Skai is a popular guitar work by Tunisian-born French composer Roland Dyens whose contribution to the…

    May 31, 20206 comments

27. 

    Choir

    5 African states adopted the liberation song by Enoch Sontonga as the national anthem

    Nkosi Sikelel 'iAfrika has been the most frequently sung tune throughout the African continent for over a hundred years…

    May 22, 2019

28. 

    Poetry

    On the Massacre of Glencoe: Walter Scott lyrics set to Beethoven's arrangement of folk melody

    The Massacre of Glencoe is one of the darkest chapters in Scottish history which saw the treacherous slaughter of…

    August 27, 2020

29. 

    Collaboration

    Robert Fripp & Toyah Willcox: the prog family who proclaimed Sunday All Over the World

    One of the brightest collaborations of the late 1980s arose after the wedding of postpunk singer Toyah Willcox and…

    May 5, 2019

30. 

    Music Theory

    Mixolydian mode in The Doors songs

    It is no secret that the harmonic structure of a song and its adherence to the canons of musical theory is one of the…

    August 3, 2021