Portal:Music

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The Music Portal

Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach. While scholars agree that music is defined by a small number of specific elements, there is no consensus as to what these necessary elements are. Music is often characterized as a highly versatile medium for expressing human creativity. Diverse activities are involved in the creation of music, and are often divided into categories of composition, improvisation, and performance. Music may be performed using a wide variety of musical instruments, including the human voice. It can also be composed, sequenced, or otherwise produced to be indirectly played mechanically or electronically, such as via a music box, barrel organ, or digital audio workstation software on a computer.

Music often plays a key role in social events and religious ceremony. The techniques of making music are often transmitted as part of a cultural tradition. Music is played in public and private contexts, highlighted at events such as festivals and concerts for various different types of ensembles. Music is used in the production of other media, such as in soundtracks to films, TV shows, operas, and video games.

Listening to music is a common means of entertainment. The culture surrounding music extends into areas of academic study, journalism, philosophy, psychology, and therapy. The music industry includes songwriters, performers, sound engineers, producers, tour organizers, distributors of instruments, accessories, and publishers of sheet music and recordings. Technology facilitating the recording and reproduction of music has historically included sheet music, microphones, phonographs, and tape machines, with playback of digital musics being a common use for MP3 players, CD players, and smartphones. (Full article...)

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various music-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Beyoncé (2016) popularized the surprise-album strategy of the 2010s. (from Album era)
Image 2Terracotta statue of a Parthian lute player (from History of music)
Image 3An LP record on a phonograph (from Album era)
Image 4Kanye West (2007) emerged during the decade as an important hip-hop producer and album artist. (from Album era)
Image 5A young man browsing through a record store in Bonn, West Germany, June 1988 (from Album era)
Image 6The Beatles (1964) have been credited by music historians for heralding the album era. (from Album era)
Image 7A musician in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 8US vinyl sales in units, 1995–2020; while album sales overall declined, those in the vinyl format rose toward the end of the 2010s. (from Album era)
Image 9Pink Floyd (1973) performing The Dark Side of the Moon, a leading commercial success of the LP era (from Album era)
Image 10A Rhodes College student listening to the 1969 Yes LP on campus, c. 1970 (from Album era)
Image 11Guillaume Du Fay (left), with Gilles Binchois (right) in a c. 1440 Illuminated manuscript copy of Martin le Franc's Le champion des dames (from History of music)
Image 12J. S. Bach (from History of music)
Image 13Two musicians of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), Shanghai Museum (from History of music)
Image 14The portable Discman CD player, which was released in 1984 and precipitated the displacement of LPs (from Album era)
Image 15Notation indicating differing pitch, dynamics, articulation, and instrumentation (from Elements of music)
Image 16Drawing of the tablet with the Hymn to Nikkal (c. 1400 BCE), the oldest of the Hurrian songs (from History of music)
Image 17Platinum records by Elvis Presley, Prince, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bruce Springsteen, at Julien's Auctions (from Album era)
Image 18Sheet music for part of the Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (from History of music)
Image 19Clara and Robert Schumann (from History of music)
Image 20The Rolling Stones in 1967 (from Album era)
Image 21c. 379 CE Bas relief of Sassanid women playing the chang in Taq-e Bostan, Iran (from History of music)
Image 22Circular definition of "musicality" (from Elements of music)
Image 23As LPs fell out of favor to CDs, hip hop producers repurposed them as sampling sources, contributing to the development of record collecting. (from Album era)
Image 24A young couple listening to music on an iPod Mini, 2006 (from Album era)
Image 25Alleluia nativitas by Perotin from the Codex Guelf.1099 (from History of music)
Image 26Musicians working in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 27The logo for Apple Inc.'s online iTunes store, which sells digital files of songs and musical pieces–along with a range of other content, such as digital files of TV shows and movies (from Music industry)
Image 28An HMV record shop in Wakefield, England closing its operation in 2013 (from Album era)
Image 29The monumental Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century BCE, from Hubei (from History of music)
Image 30Frank Sinatra (c. 1955), an early pop album artist (from Album era)
Image 31Taylor Swift, a longtime adherent to album-era rollouts, surprise-released her albums instead in 2020. (from Album era)
Image 32The Japanese boy band Arashi, who had the world's best-selling album (5x20 All the Best!!) in 2019 (from Album era)
Image 33Stevie Wonder, among the era's innovative artists (from Album era)
Image 34A smartphone displaying playlists on Spotify, 2010. The streaming service became a dominant and redefining platform for music consumption through the decade. (from Album era)
Image 35A studio engineer working with an audio mixer in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 36The Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, is the best known of the ancient Lyres of Ur (from History of music)
Image 37Frances Densmore at the Smithsonian Institution in 1916 where she was recording Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology. In this picture, Mountain Chief is listening to a recording. (from Music industry)
Image 38An audience watching a concert (from Music industry)
Image 39An example of mechanically printed sheet music (from Music industry)
Image 40A live musical performance at Cologne Pride, 2013 (from Music industry)
Image 41A radio broadcasting system from 1906 (from Music industry)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured articles - load new batch

Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

Image 1

A fortepiano from the period

The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, is a concerto composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for keyboard (usually a piano or fortepiano) and orchestra. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786, finishing it on 24 March 1786, three weeks after completing his Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major. As he intended to perform the work himself, Mozart did not write out the soloist's part in full. The premiere was in early April 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Chronologically, the work is the twentieth of Mozart's 23 original piano concertos.

The work is one of only two minor-key piano concertos that Mozart composed, the other being the No. 20 in D minor. None of Mozart's other piano concertos features a larger array of instruments: the work is scored for strings, woodwinds, horns, trumpets and timpani. The first of its three movements, Allegro, is in sonata form and is longer than any opening movement of Mozart's earlier concertos. The second movement, Larghetto, in E♭ major—the relative major of C minor—features a strikingly simple principal theme. The final movement, Allegretto, is a theme and eight variations in C minor. (Full article...)
Image 2
By the Way is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released July 9, 2002, on Warner Bros. Records. It sold more than 286,000 copies in its first week, and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. Singles included "By the Way", "The Zephyr Song", "Can't Stop" and "Universally Speaking". Additionally, "Dosed" was released as a promotional single in the US and Canada. The lyrical subject matter vocalist Anthony Kiedis addresses in By the Way is a divergence from previous Red Hot Chili Peppers albums, with Kiedis taking a more candid and reflective approach to his lyrics.

By the Way was lauded by critics as a departure from the band's previous styles, and is recognized for the melodic and subdued emotions given by the Chili Peppers. Guitarist John Frusciante is credited with writing most of the album's melodies, backing vocal arrangements, bass lines, and guitar progressions, therefore changing the direction of the recording dramatically: "his warm, understated guitar work and his doo-wop style vocal harmonies are king this time around." By the Way contained very little of the signature funk-metal fusion the band had become known for playing. Frusciante has stated that writing "By the Way [was] one of the happiest times in my life." The album went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide. The album has come to be regarded by many as one of the band's most finest works. (Full article...)
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Hunky Dory is the fourth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 17 December 1971 through RCA Records. Following a break from touring and recording, Bowie settled down to write new songs, composing on piano rather than guitar as in earlier works. Bowie assembled the guitarist Mick Ronson, the bassist Trevor Bolder, and the drummer Mick Woodmansey, and began to record a new album in mid-1971 at Trident Studios in London. Rick Wakeman contributed piano shortly before joining Yes. Bowie co-produced the album with Ken Scott, who had engineered Bowie's previous two records.

Compared to the guitar-driven hard rock sound of The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie opted for a warmer, more melodic piano-based pop rock and art pop style on Hunky Dory. His lyrical concerns on the record range from the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention on "Changes" to occultism and Nietzschean philosophy on "Oh! You Pretty Things" and "Quicksand"; several songs make cultural and literary references. He was also inspired by his United States tour to write songs dedicated to three American icons: Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, and Lou Reed. The song "Kooks" was dedicated to Bowie's newborn son Duncan. The album's cover artwork, photographed in monochrome and subsequently recoloured, features Bowie in a pose inspired by actresses of the Hollywood Golden Age. (Full article...)
Image 4

Tchaikovsky, c. 1888

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (/tʃaɪˈkɒfski/ chy-KOF-skee; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin.

Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five with whom his professional relationship was mixed. (Full article...)
Image 5

Zappa performing at Ekeberghallen in Oslo, Norway, in 1977

Frank Vincent Zappa (/ˈzæpə/ ZAP-ə; December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works; he also produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. His work is characterized by nonconformity, improvisation sound experimentation, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation.

As a mostly self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism, African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing classical music in high school, while simultaneously playing drums in rhythm and blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His debut studio album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out! (1966), combined satirical but seemingly conventional rock and roll songs with extended sound collages. He continued this eclectic and experimental approach throughout his career. (Full article...)
Image 6
"Cry Me a River" is a song by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake for his debut solo album, Justified (2002). It was thought to be inspired by Timberlake's former relationship with singer Britney Spears. Jive Records released the song to contemporary hit and rhythmic radio in the United States on November 25, 2002, as the album's second single. Accompanied by an electric piano, beatbox, guitars, synthesizers, Arabian-inspired riffs and Gregorian chants, "Cry Me a River" is a pop and R&B song about a brokenhearted man who moves on from his past.

"Cry Me a River" received acclaim from music critics, who praised Timbaland's production while calling it a standout track on Justified. The song earned several lists of best of the year and the decade (2000s), while Rolling Stone included it on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at 484. It won the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2004 ceremony. The song peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Pop Songs charts and charted in the top ten in other countries. It was certified double platinum by both the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). (Full article...)
Image 7

Santiago performing in 2017

Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, Santiago produced musical scores for film and television documentaries, and he formed The Martinis with his ex-wife, Linda Mallari. He also contributed to albums by Charles Douglas and former Pixies band-mate Frank Black. Santiago resumed his role as the Pixies' lead guitarist when they reunited in 2004.

Santiago has described his guitar technique as "angular and bent", and he cites Les Paul, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Jimi Hendrix as major influences on his style. His guitar playing, as part of the Pixies' sound, was held in high regard by critics: MTV's Laurel Bowman commented that Santiago's "sonic plow was the key element in the Pixies' monstrous presence". (Full article...)
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The Fifth Element is a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, as well as co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity.

Besson started writing the story that was developed as The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas. Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable facilities could not be found; filming took place in London and Mauritania instead. He hired comic artists Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose books inspired parts of the film, for production design. Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier. (Full article...)
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"I Drink Wine" is a song by the English singer Adele from her fourth studio album, 30 (2021). Adele co-wrote the song with its producer, Greg Kurstin. It became available as the album's seventh track on 19 November 2021, when it was released by Columbia Records. It is a ballad with gospel influences reminiscent of church music and incorporates a piano and organ in its instrumentation. It is about letting go of one's ego and addresses Adele's divorce from Simon Konecki, comprising arduous realisations about the condition of her marriage and life.

"I Drink Wine" generally received positive reviews from music critics, some of whom viewed it as one of Adele's best songs and a career highlight. It reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Sweden and entered the charts in various other countries. Joe Talbot directed the music video for "I Drink Wine", which depicts Adele floating through a river and exploring a forest while drinking a glass of wine. Adele performed the song for her television specials and at the Brit Awards 2022, which was positively received. In addition, "I Drink Wine" impacted radio airplay in Italy on 4 November 2022 as the album's third single. (Full article...)
Image 10
Elderly Instruments is a musical instrument retailer in Lansing, Michigan, United States, with a reputation as a "megastore", a repair shop and a locus for folk music including bluegrass and "twang". Specializing in fretted instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles, Elderly maintains a selection of odd or rare instruments. Elderly is known as a premier repair shop for fretted instruments, as one of the larger vintage instrument dealers in the United States, and as a major dealer of Martin guitars in particular.

Industry publications, music retail trade, and bluegrass music journals have featured articles about the Elderly repair staff. The company also provides consignment services for rare and vintage instruments. Since its founding in 1972, Elderly has undergone two major expansions: into mail order in 1975 and then into Internet sales in the 1990s. In 2005 it was the subject of a lawsuit by Gibson Guitar Corporation concerning trademark infringement. Today it is recognized internationally for its services and products; its mail order and Internet business account for 65–70 percent of its total revenue. Elderly grossed $12 million in 1999, and by 2007 was grossing $17 million annually. (Full article...)
Image 11

From the film advertising poster

Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé (Russian: Поручик Киже, Poruchik Kizhe) music was originally written to accompany the film of the same name, produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad in 1933–34 and released in March 1934. It was Prokofiev's first attempt at film music, and his first commission.

In the early days of sound cinema, among the various distinguished composers ready to try their hand at film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation for experimentation and dissonance, characteristics at odds with the cultural norms of the Soviet Union. By early 1933, however, Prokofiev was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more popular and accessible style. (Full article...)
Image 12
Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who previously worked with Jackson on his album Off the Wall (1979). Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". With the ongoing backlash against disco music at the time, he moved in a new musical direction, resulting in a mix of pop, post-disco, rock, funk, synth-pop, and R&B sounds, and darker themes. Paul McCartney is the first credited appearance of a featured artist on a Jackson album. Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000.

Thriller became Jackson's first number-one album on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart, where it spent a record 37 non-consecutive weeks at number one, from February 26, 1983, to April 14, 1984. Seven singles were released: "The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", and "Thriller". They all reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting a record for the most top 10 singles from an album, with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" reaching number one. Following Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" in the Motown 25 television special, where he debuted his signature moonwalk dance, the album began selling one million copies per week. Sales doubled after the release of the "Thriller" music video on MTV in December 1983. (Full article...)
Image 13
"Slug" is a song by Passengers, a side project of rock band U2 and musician Brian Eno. It is the second track on Passengers' only release, the 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1. The track was originally titled "Seibu" and was almost left off the album before it was rediscovered later during the recording sessions. Though Eno made most of the creative decisions during the recording sessions, "Slug" was one of the few tracks that the members from U2 tried to craft themselves.

Lyrically, it is a portrait of a desolate soul during a time of celebration. As Passengers were writing songs for fictional soundtracks, they tried to create a visual suggestion from the music that was more important than the story within the lyrics. In "Slug", the instrumentation is intended to represent the lights turning on in a city at night. The group primarily drew inspiration for the song from U2's experiences in Tokyo at the conclusion of the Zoo TV Tour. "Slug" was praised as one of the best songs on the album by critics from various publications. (Full article...)
Image 14
Gustav Mahler, photographed in 1907 by Moritz Nähr at the end of his period as director of the Vienna Hofoper

Gustav Mahler (German: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈmaːlɐ] ; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century.

Born in Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) to Jewish parents of humble origins, the German-speaking Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts of rising importance in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the post—experienced regular opposition and hostility from the anti-Semitic press. Nevertheless, his innovative productions and insistence on the highest performance standards ensured his reputation as one of the greatest of opera conductors, particularly as an interpreter of the stage works of Wagner, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. Late in his life he was briefly director of New York's Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. (Full article...)
Image 15
Title TK is the third studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on May 20 and 21, 2002 by 4AD in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States, and on May 10 by P-Vine Records in Japan. The album—whose name means "title to come" in journalistic shorthand—generated three singles: "Off You", "Huffer", and "Son of Three". Title TK reached the top 100 in France, Germany, the UK, and Australia, and number 130 in the US.

Following multiple changes in personnel after the release of Last Splash (1993), singer and songwriter Kim Deal was the only remaining constant member of the Breeders by 1996. The next year, she returned to the studio in an attempt to record a follow-up album, but her behavior—including drug use and demanding expectations—alienated many of the musicians and engineers with whom she worked. (Full article...)

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Selected pictures

Image 1
Johann Strauss II
Photograph credit: Fritz Luckhardt; restored by Adam Cuerden
Johann Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. Part of the Strauss dynasty, his father demanded that none of his sons pursue music as a career, despite their display of musical talent. It was only after his father had abandoned the family for a mistress that the younger Strauss was able to develop his skills as a composer, with the encouragement of his mother. He eventually attained greater fame than his father, and became one of the most popular waltz composers of the era, conducting extensive tours of Austria, Poland and Germany with his orchestra.
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Image 2
Ludwig van Beethoven
Photo: W. J. Mayer; Restoration: Lise Broer
A bust of the German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), made from his death mask. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time. Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf.
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Image 3
Mary Lou Williams
Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden
Mary Lou Williams (May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor and teacher to numerous other jazz musicians. The second of eleven children, she was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A young musical prodigy, she taught herself to play the piano at the age of three. This photograph of Williams at the piano was taken by William P. Gottlieb around 1946.
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Image 4
Hera Hjartardóttir
Photo: Kyle Cassidy
Hera is an Icelandic singer-songwriter who emigrated to New Zealand as a teenager. She is known for her facial art, which is "inspired by moko and also by Celtic warrior paint" and intended to represent both her Icelandic and New Zealand heritage. In 2002 she was named Best Female Singer at the Icelandic Music Awards.
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Image 5
Carl Nielsen
Photograph: Georg Lindstrøm; restoration: Adam Cuerden
Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Initially playing in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, he premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. His early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, but he soon developed his own style. By the time of his death, he had produced 419 known works; some of these, such as his opera Maskarade (1906), have become integral to Denmark's national heritage.
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Image 6
Jules Massenet
Photograph credit: Eugène Pirou; restored by Adam Cuerden
Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era, best known for his operas. Between 1867 and his death, he wrote more than forty stage works in a wide variety of styles, from opéra comique to grand depictions of classical myths, romantic comedies and lyric dramas, as well as oratorios, cantatas and ballets. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the leading opera composer in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the time of his death, he was regarded as old-fashioned; his works, however, began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, and many have since been staged and recorded. This photograph of Massenet was taken by French photographer Eugène Pirou in 1875.
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Oceana (singer)
Photo: ChrisHamburg
Oceana (born 1982) is a German singer of German/Martiniquen descent. She is shown here performing at the Radio Hamburg Top 820.
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Thomas Linley the elder
Painting: Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Linley the elder (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795) was an English bass singer and musician. He began his musical career at age 11 in Bath, becoming apprentice to the organist Thomas Chilcot. Linley married in 1752 and fathered eight children, supporting the family by working as a music teacher. As his children grew he developed their musical talent and was able to draw an increasing amount of income from their concerts. When the Bath Assembly Rooms opened in 1771, Linley became musical director and continued to promote his children's careers. He was eventually able to move to London with the thousands of pounds which he had amassed from their concerts. In addition to his children Linley taught tenor Charles Dignum, singer and actress Anna Maria Crouch, and novelist Frances Sheridan. He collaborated with his son Thomas Linley the younger in penning the comic opera The Duenna, with libretto by his son-in-law Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

This picture is an oil-on-canvas painting created around 1770 by Thomas Gainsborough, showing Linley holding his "Elegies for Three Voices". It hangs in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
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Image 9
Frédéric Chopin
Photo credit: Louis-Auguste Bisson
The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, often incorrectly described as a daguerreotype. It is believed to have been taken in 1849 during the degenerative stages of his tuberculosis, shortly before his death. Chopin, a Polish pianist and composer of the Romantic era, is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, admired and prolific composers for the piano. He moved to Paris at the age of twenty, adopting the French variant of his name, "Frédéric-François", by which he is now known.
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Image 10
William Grant Still
Photograph credit: Carl Van Vechten; restored by Adam Cuerden
William Grant Still (1895–1978) was an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies and nine operas. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers", Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera. His first symphony, entitled Afro-American Symphony, was until 1950 the most widely performed symphony composed by an American. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later Edgard Varèse. Still was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra and the first to have an opera performed on national television. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, he is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

This picture of Still was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1949; the photograph is in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
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Image 11
Henrik Freischlader
Photograph: Stefan Krause
Henrik Freischlader (b. 1982) is a German blues guitarist and singer. He began his career in 1998, and established his own label, Cable Car Records, in 2009.
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Simon Neil
Photograph: Achim Raschka
Simon Neil (b. 1979) is a Scottish vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. Born in Irvine, he established the band Biffy Clyro in 1995 with James and Ben Johnston. He has also played with JP Reid of Sucioperro in Marmaduke Duke, using the pseudonym "The Atmosphere", and started a solo career.
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Image 13
Elvis Presley meets Richard Nixon
Photograph: Oliver F. Atkins
American singer Elvis Presley meeting then-president Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970. During the meeting, the singer expressed his patriotism and his contempt for hippies, the growing drug culture, and the counterculture in general. Presley then asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts. Nixon gave Presley the badge and expressed a belief that Presley could send a positive message to young people and that it was therefore important he retain his credibility.
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Médée
Graphic: Giuseppe Palanti
Médée is a French-language opera by the composer Luigi Cherubini. Set in the ancient city of Corinth, Greece, it features a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman and is based on Euripides's tragic play Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée. The opera premiered in 1797 at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris. The long-lost final aria, which Cherubini appears to have deleted from his original manuscript, was discovered by researchers from the University of Manchester and Stanford University by employing X-ray techniques to reveal areas that the composer had blackened out.

This picture shows the title page for a vocal score of the 1909 hybrid version of Médée.
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Ane Brun
Photo: Benoît Derrier; edit: Keraunoscopia
Ane Brun (b. 1976) is a Norwegian songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. She has recorded eight albums, starting in 2003 with Spending Time with Morgan.
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