Making Sense of The Nutcracker’s Libretto
Early audiences loved it, even as critics questioned its structure. Returning to the story helps illuminate what makes the ballet so strangely captivating.
The Literary Inspirations for Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique
The creative works on which Hector Berlioz drew when writing his macabre and revolutionary symphony were fantastic indeed.
The Nineteenth-Century Banjo
Derived from an instrument brought to America by enslaved Africans, the banjo experienced a surge of popularity during the New Woman movement of the late 1800s.
A Very JSTOR Daily Mixtape: Volume 2
A JSTOR playlist featuring musicians who were also writers or scholars with content on JSTOR: including Leonard Cohen, Neko Case, Vijay Iyer, and Brian Eno.
John Adams’ “On the Transmigration of Souls,” After 9/11
How to memorialize a national tragedy in music?