The Avett Brothers at UMBCIn recent months, financial services company Northwestern Mutual has used the chorus from a song by the Americana band “The Avett Brothers” in a commercial about man...
Mariage de Figaro by Golovin“So it will never be performed?” said the queen. “Certainly not,” said Louis XVI. “You may be sure of that.”
https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/2023-10-20-mcgath-marriage-of-figaro
No one in Europe could be indifferent to Napoleon’s ascent. He was its greatest liberator or its greatest threat. Beethoven, who despised ruling classes, was wildly enthusiastic about him. His ...
https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/2023-08-03-mcgath-beethoven-and-napoleon
Allegory of Joy and Melancholy (detail) Abraham Janssens, 1628On December 24 and 25, 1989, Leonard Bernstein led concerts celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. They included Ludwig van Beethov...
Poster advertising the first performance of Don CarlosThe Protestant Reformation threw 16th-century Europe into turmoil. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who was also the king of Spain, tried to mai...
Playbill for a performance of The Marriage of FigaroWhen Mozart wanted to make his name known to Vienna’s opera-going public, he made a daring choice. He had Lorenzo Da Ponte write a libretto b...
https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/McGath-Figaro-Aristocracy
Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, which dates from 1805, addresses issues which are just as important today. Its plot concerns a whistleblower whom a corrupt prison governor has “disappeared.” His...
https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/McGrath-Fidelio-Beethoven
1) Liebster Gott, wann werd’ ich sterben? Meine Zeit läuft immer hin, Und des alten Adams Erben, Unter denen ich auch bin, Haben dies zum Vatertheil, Dass sie eine kleine Weil Arm und elend se...
https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/bach-asks-god-when-will-i-die-1700
Bach was one of the most prolific and original composers in the Western classical tradition. His cantatas, passions and oratorios played an important part in Lutheran church music.
Bacon edited a collection of Luther’s hymns.
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) was a watchmaker and a court musician, before he turned to writing plays. He is best known for having dared to publish Voltaire and two anti-aris...
https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/pierre-augustin-caron-de-beaumarchais
A prolific Venetian librettist who wrote the libretto for Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (based upon a play by Beaumarchais) and Cosi fan tutte.
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) is one of the most important opera composers. His liberal political views and his strong Italian nationalism colored many of his works.
Ghislanzoni was a writer, especially of libretti for opera. He was inspired by the liberal ideas of Mazzini during the 1848 revolution. He wrote scores of opera libretti in particular Verdi’s A...
Hurley was the organist and choirmaster of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was one of the great European classical composers of the first half of the 19th century. He wrote a number of politically inspired works including an opera Fideli...
Terry edited and commented in great detail on Bach’s Chorals in an edition published in 1915.
Oh! could we from death but recover Those hearts as they bounded before, In the face of high heav'n to fight over That combat for freedom once more. Could the chain for an instant be riven Which ...
Alas! what darkness dense! What horrid stillness! Here in this dark tomb, is nothing known But my deep anguish! Oh, most cruel torture! Oh, Heavenly Providence, how much longer Will this my miser...
A stronghold sure our God remains, A shield and hope unfailing; In need His help our freedom gains, ‘er all we fear prevailing. Our old malignant foe Would fain work us woe. With craft and grea...