Photo courtesy of Youtube | Delibes’ ballet Copelia is an adaptation of two classic German short stories that focus on a lifelike human doll. Give it a listen this month.
The world of classical music brims with soulfully gorgeous melodies, harmonies bursting with fascinating turns and intricate movements and voices resounding with brilliantly sparkling notes echoing in the chambers of your heart. It is music that you can feel in your soul, passing its beauty in every moment that composes your daily life, whether joyful, anguished or somewhere in between.
Classical music is not intimidating, inaccessible or pretentious. It is an exquisite form of art that gives shape and life to our souls and that replenishes them in times of heartache. Most of all, classical music nourishes our souls by illuminating the beauty that exists in our world and the possibility we hold of understanding it.
This month is Classical Music Month, so let us celebrate the works of classical composers that have filled our lives with beautiful music, the sunlight you can hear. From Mozart to Messiaen, Debussy to Delibes, Saint-Saens to Stravinsky, works by classical composers have made even the weariest of minds find solace and warmth in their melodies. Works of classical music often have no lyrics to sing along to, so it’s up to you to hear the movements of the notes and notice what images pop up in your head when you listen to them, what thoughts you can imagine or reflect upon and what memories you can associate with the music.
Most of all, when you listen to a piece of classical music, notice how it makes you feel and follow the passageways of emotion the music can evoke. When I listen to classical music, I can hear the notes paint colors in the air, sparkling iridescently like sunlight on a river, filling whatever mood I am in with a dreamy intensity and articulating everything I feel so perfectly. When I feel joyful, I listen to music from Delibes’ ballet Coppelia; when I feel thoughtful, I listen to Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9.” When I want to cry tears of joy, I listen to Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni’s rendition of the “Sull’aria” duet, from Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro.
For me, classical music is the music of the soul. It allows us to give life to our emotions, share all the beauty present in the world we live with others, and feel in communion with art and life. Maybe once a day, try listening to a piece of classical music and watch your soul fly.
By: Sofia Ordoñez | Copy Editor