Portal:Music

The Music Portal

Grooved side of the Voyager Golden Record launched along the Voyager probes to space, which feature music from around the world

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 -

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

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  Drawing of the tablet with the Hymn to Nikkal (c. 1400 BCE), the oldest of the Hurrian songs (from History of music)
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  Pink Floyd (1973) performing The Dark Side of the Moon, a leading commercial success of the LP era (from Album era)
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  A musician in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  A young man browsing through a record store in Bonn, West Germany, June 1988 (from Album era)
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  Alleluia nativitas by Perotin from the Codex Guelf.1099 (from History of music)
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  The monumental Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century BCE, from Hubei (from History of music)
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  c. 379 CE Bas relief of Sassanid women playing the chang in Taq-e Bostan, Iran (from History of music)
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  A smartphone displaying playlists on Spotify, 2010. The streaming service became a dominant and redefining platform for music consumption through the decade. (from Album era)
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  A studio engineer working with an audio mixer in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  Frank Sinatra (c. 1955), an early pop album artist (from Album era)
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  An example of mechanically printed sheet music (from Music industry)
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  Guillaume 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)
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  Kanye West (2007) emerged during the decade as an important hip-hop producer and album artist. (from Album era)
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  Sheet music for part of the Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (from History of music)
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  US 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)
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  Taylor Swift, a longtime adherent to album-era rollouts, surprise-released her albums instead in 2020. (from Album era)
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  The Beatles (1964) have been credited by music historians for heralding the album era. (from Album era)
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  As 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)
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  Terracotta statue of a Parthian lute player (from History of music)
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  Frances 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)
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  A live musical performance at Cologne Pride, 2013 (from Music industry)
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  A radio broadcasting system from 1906 (from Music industry)
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  Musicians working in a recording studio (from Music industry)
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  An audience watching a concert (from Music industry)
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  An HMV record shop in Wakefield, England closing its operation in 2013 (from Album era)
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  Beyoncé (2016) popularized the surprise-album strategy of the 2010s. (from Album era)
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  The Rolling Stones in 1967 (from Album era)
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  J. S. Bach (from History of music)
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  Circular definition of "musicality" (from Elements of music)
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  Platinum records by Elvis Presley, Prince, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bruce Springsteen, at Julien's Auctions (from Album era)
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  The 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)
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  Clara and Robert Schumann (from History of music)
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  Stevie Wonder, among the era's innovative artists (from Album era)
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  The 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)
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  An LP record on a phonograph (from Album era)
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  Notation indicating differing pitch, dynamics, articulation, and instrumentation (from Elements of music)
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  Two musicians of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), Shanghai Museum (from History of music)
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  A young couple listening to music on an iPod Mini, 2006 (from Album era)
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  A Rhodes College student listening to the 1969 Yes LP on campus, c. 1970 (from Album era)
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  The Japanese boy band Arashi, who had the world's best-selling album (5x20 All the Best!!) in 2019 (from Album era)
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  The portable Discman CD player, which was released in 1984 and precipitated the displacement of LPs (from Album era)

Featured articles -

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

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  Dookie is the third studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on February 1, 1994, by Reprise Records. The band's major label debut and first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo, it was recorded in late summer 1993 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California. Written mostly by the singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, the album is largely based on his personal experiences and includes themes such as boredom, anxiety, relationships, and sexuality. It was promoted with four singles: "Longview", "Basket Case", a re-recorded version of "Welcome to Paradise" (which originally appeared on the band's second studio album, 1991's Kerplunk), and "When I Come Around".
  
  After several years of grunge's dominance in popular music, Dookie brought a livelier, more melodic rock sound to the mainstream and propelled Green Day to worldwide fame. Considered one of the defining albums of the 1990s and of punk rock in general, it was also pivotal in solidifying the genre's mainstream popularity. Its influence continued into the new millennium and beyond, being cited as an inspiration by many punk rock and pop-punk bands, as well as artists from other genres. (Full article...)
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  Hey Y'all is the second studio album by the American singer Elizabeth Cook, released on August 27, 2002, by the Warner Bros. record label. The album was the first time its executive producer, Richard Dodd, had worked in country music. A majority of the songs were written by Cook and the songwriter Hardie McGehee, who shared a music publisher. Prior to Hey Y'all, Cook had independently released her debut studio album, The Blue Album (2000), and performed over 100 times at the Grand Ole Opry. She signed a deal with Atlantic Records but was later transferred to Warner Bros. after AOL-Time Warner closed Atlantic's Nashville office. Hey Y'all was Cook's debut on a major record label.
  
  A country album, Hey Y'all includes influences from other genres, such as gospel, honky-tonk, and pop. The lyrics focus on Cook's childhood and personal life, as well as on more sexual topics. It was recorded at Javeline Studios, the Hum Depot, and Vital Recording in Nashville and Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. Reviewers attributed a twangy quality to Cook's voice, which they likened to that of other country singers, including Dolly Parton. (Full article...)
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  "Can I Get It" is a song by the English singer Adele from her fourth studio album, 30 (2021), written with the Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback. The song became available as the album's sixth track on 19 November 2021, when it was released by Columbia Records. A pop song with pop rock and country pop influences, "Can I Get It" has acoustic guitar, drum, and horn instrumentation and a whistled hook. The song is about moving on from a breakup and explores Adele's search for true love and the thrilling and wondrous parts of a new relationship.
  
  "Can I Get It" received mixed reviews from music critics, who were generally positive about its acoustic portion and lyrics, but highly criticised its whistled hook. Some thought that what they called the song's "brazen" pop production catered to the tastes of mainstream radio, which made it an outlier on 30, and compared it to Flo Rida's single "Whistle" (2012). It reached the top 20 in Sweden, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Finland, and Norway and entered the top 40 in some other countries. (Full article...)
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  Vedel depicted on a Ukrainian commemorative stamp

  
  Artemy Lukyanovich Vedel (13 April [O.S. 1 April] 1767 – 26 July [O.S. 14 July] 1808), born Artemy Lukyanovich Vedelsky, was a Ukrainian-born Russian Imperial composer of liturgical music and military music. He produced works based on Ukrainian folk melodies, and made an important contribution in the music history of Ukraine. Together with Maxim Berezovsky and Dmitry Bortniansky, Vedel is recognised by musicologists as one of the "Golden Three" composers of 18th century Ukrainian classical music, and one of Russia's greatest choral composers.
  
  Vedel was born in Kyiv, the son of a wealthy wood carver. He studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy until 1787, after which he was appointed to conduct the academy's choir and orchestra. In 1788, he was sent to Moscow to work for the regional governor, but he returned home in 1791 and resumed his career at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. General Andrei Levanidov recruited him to lead Kyiv's regimental chapel and choir—under Levanidov's patronage, Vedel reached the peak of his creativity as a composer. He moved with Levanidov to the Kharkov Governorate, where he organised a new choir and orchestra, and taught at the Kharkiv Collegium. (Full article...)
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  Pod is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released by 4AD records on May 29, 1990. Engineered by Steve Albini, the album features band leader Kim Deal on vocals and guitar, Josephine Wiggs on bass, Britt Walford on drums, and Tanya Donelly on guitar. Albini's production prioritized sound over technical accomplishment; the final takes favor the band's spontaneous live "in studio" performances.
  
  The Breeders formed in 1988 when Deal, bass player for Pixies, befriended Donelly of Throwing Muses during a European tour. They recorded a country-infused demo in 1989, leading to 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell funding an album, Pod, recorded that year at the Palladium studio in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Full article...)
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  Poulenc in the early 1920s

  
  Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (French: [fʁɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʁsɛl pulɛ̃k]; 7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-known are the piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the Organ Concerto (1938), the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957), and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir, and orchestra.
  
  As the only son of a prosperous manufacturer, Poulenc was expected to follow his father into the family firm, and he was not allowed to enrol at a music college. He studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes, who became his mentor after the composer's parents died. Poulenc also made the acquaintance of Erik Satie, under whose tutelage he became one of a group of young composers known collectively as Les Six. In his early works Poulenc became known for his high spirits and irreverence. During the 1930s a much more serious side to his nature emerged, particularly in the religious music he composed from 1936 onwards, which he alternated with his more light-hearted 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...)
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  Portrait by Herbert Lambert, c. 1922

  
  Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax KCVO (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist.
  
  Bax was born in the London suburb of Streatham to a prosperous family. He was encouraged by his parents to pursue a career in music, and his private income enabled him to follow his own path as a composer without regard for fashion or orthodoxy. Consequently, he came to be regarded in musical circles as an important but isolated figure. While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music Bax became fascinated with Ireland and Celtic culture, which became a strong influence on his early development. In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction and verse under the pseudonym Dermot O'Byrne. Later, he developed an affinity with Nordic culture, which for a time superseded his Celtic influences in the years after the First World War. (Full article...)
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  Pru is the debut studio album by American singer Pru. It was released on November 7, 2000, through Capitol Records. Pru was managed by Capitol Records executive Roy Lott, who had signed Pru to Warner/Chappell Music Publishing after being impressed by her songwriting and voice on a demo tape. Pru collaborated with Ben Garrison, the Characters, and Rick Williams on the album.
  
  According to Lott, Pru was part of Capitol Records' attempts to attract a wider audience through her crossover appeal. According to music critics, the album encompasses several genres, with some commentators noting influences from neo soul. Pru also used poetry as an inspiration for writing music. (Full article...)
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  The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963, by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
  
  Dylan's lyrics embraced news stories drawn from headlines about the ongoing civil rights movement and he articulated anxieties about the fear of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal humor. Freewheelin' showcased Dylan's songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan's subsequent recognition led to his being named as "Spokesman of a Generation", a label Dylan repudiated. (Full article...)
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  Edward Elgar, c. 1900

  
  Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (/ˈɛlɡɑːr/ ; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.
  
  Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British Army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. (Full article...)
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  Lennon in 1974

  
  John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. He gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His work included music, writing, drawings and film. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history as the primary songwriters in the Beatles.
  
  Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called "the smart Beatle", Lennon initially was the group's de facto leader, a role he gradually seemed to cede to McCartney. Through his songwriting in the Beatles, he embraced myriad musical influences, initially writing and co-writing rock and pop-oriented hit songs in the band's early years, then later incorporating experimental elements into his compositions in the latter half of the Beatles' career as his songs became known for their increasing innovation. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including How I Won the War, and authoring In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsense writings and line drawings. Starting with "All You Need Is Love", his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture of the 1960s. In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, multimedia artist Yoko Ono, held the two-week-long anti-war demonstration bed-in for peace, and left the Beatles to embark on a solo career. (Full article...)
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  Bizet photographed by Étienne Carjat (1875)

  
  
  
  Georges Bizet (né Alexandre César Léopold Bizet; 25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.
  
  During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful. (Full article...)
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  Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prolifically across a range of genres, but struggled through his lifetime for recognition from the British musical establishment, which largely ignored his works.
  
  Bush, from a prosperous middle-class background, enjoyed considerable success as a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in the early 1920s, and spent much of that decade furthering his compositional and piano-playing skills under distinguished tutors. A two-year period in Berlin in 1929 to 1931, early in the Nazi Party's rise to power, cemented Bush's political convictions and moved him from the mainstream Labour Party to the Communist Party of Great Britain which he joined in 1935. He wrote several large-scale works in the 1930s, and was heavily involved with workers' choirs for whom he composed pageants, choruses and songs. His pro-Soviet stance led to a temporary ban on his music by the BBC in the early years of the Second World War, and his refusal to modify his position in the postwar Cold War era led to a more prolonged semi-ostracism of his music. As a result, the four major operas he wrote between 1950 and 1970 were all premiered in East Germany. (Full article...)
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  "4 Minutes" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her eleventh studio album Hard Candy (2008), featuring vocals by fellow American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake and American producer Timbaland. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 17, 2008, by Warner Bros. Records. It marked the first time in Madonna's 25-year career that another artist was featured in a single. According to Madonna, the song is about saving the environment and "having a good time while we are doing it". She also cited the song as the inspiration for the documentary I Am Because We Are (2008).
  
  The song was recorded at Sarm West Studios, in London, while the mixing of the track was finished at The Hit Factory studio, in New York City. Sound engineer Demo Castellon first worked on the vocals and then on the beats, while the synths were composed by Timbaland and Danja. An uptempo dance-pop song with an urban and hip hop style, "4 Minutes" incorporates Timbaland's characteristic bhangra beats and the instrumentation used in the song includes brass, foghorns and cowbells. The lyrics carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

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  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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  Lina Rafn

  Photo: Jepsen

  Lina Rafn (b. 1976) is a Danish singer, songwriter and producer active with the band Infernal. She had previously been a VJ on the show The Voice TV Danmark.
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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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  Nina Sublatti

  Photograph: Ailura

  Nina Sublatti (b. 1995) is a Georgian singer, songwriter, and model. Having previously won the 2013 Georgian edition of Idol, she achieved international attention when she represented her country in Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with her song "Warrior". She has since served as a judge on X Factor Georgia and Idols.
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  Billy Strayhorn

  Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Billy Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, best remembered for his long-time collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington that lasted nearly three decades. Though classical music was Strayhorn's first love, his ambition to become a classical composer went unrealized because of the harsh reality of a black man trying to make his way in the world of classical music, which at that time was almost completely white. He was introduced to the music of pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson at age 19, and the artistic influence of these musicians guided him into the realm of jazz, where he remained for the rest of his life. This photograph of Strayhorn was taken by William P. Gottlieb in the 1940s.
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  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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  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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  Louis Armstrong

  Photo credit: New York World-Telegram and Sun

  Louis Armstrong, nicknamed "Satchmo" or "Pops", was an American jazz trumpeter and singer. Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser and as a scat singer.
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  Nelly Martyl

  Photograph credit: Jean Reutlinger; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Nelly Martyl (1884–1953) was a French opera singer. She sang in the premieres of several operas, including Leborne's La Catalane (1907), Erlanger's La Sorcière (1912), and Massenet's Amadis (1922). Martyl joined the Red Cross as a nurse during the First World War, and served at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, where she was known as la fée de Verdun (the Fairy of Verdun), and at the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917. She continued as a nurse after the war to help with the 1918 epidemic of Spanish flu. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre with the carte du combattant (signifying service under particular hazard) in 1920.
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  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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  Le mage

  Poster credit: Alfredo Leonardo Edel; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Le mage is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Jean Richepin. First performed at the Paris Opera in 1891, it has rarely been performed since its premiere run of 31 performances, and is one of Massenet's least-known operas. A rare complete concert performance took place at the Massenet Festival in Saint-Étienne in 2012. This poster by Alfredo Edel was produced for the opera's premiere on 16 March 1891.
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  Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

  Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was an English composer and conductor. His greatest success was his cantata Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. This set the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to music, and was widely performed by choral groups in England and the United States. Composers were not well paid; the work sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but he had sold the music outright for the sum of 15 guineas, so did not benefit directly. He learned to retain his rights and earned royalties for other compositions after achieving wide renown, but always struggled financially. This photograph of Coleridge-Taylor was taken around 1905.
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  Nicholas Lanier

  Painting credit: Anthony van Dyck

  Nicholas Lanier (baptised 10 September 1588 – buried 24 February 1666) was an English composer and musician; the first to hold the title of Master of the King's Music, in the service of Charles I and Charles II. He was one of the first composers to introduce monody and recitative to England.
  
  After this oil-on-canvas portrait was painted by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck in Antwerp, Lanier convinced the king to bring van Dyck to England, where he became the leading court painter. The portrait displays an attitude of studied carelessness, often termed sprezzatura, defined as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it". The painting now hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
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  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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  Fervaal

  Illustration credit: Carlos Schwabe; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Fervaal is an opera with a prologue and three acts by the French composer Vincent d'Indy. Fervaal is the son of a Celtic king and is destined to be the last advocate of the old gods. His mission is to save his homeland from invasion and pillage, but in doing so he must renounce love. This illustration, by the Swiss painter Carlos Schwabe, relates to the 10 May 1898 premiere of the opera at the Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique in Paris. Here, Fervaal is depicted ascending a mountain while carrying the body of his beloved Guilhen at the end of the opera, as the pagan gods and their worshippers fade out of existence with the dawn of Christianity.

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Birthdays in Music: November 14

• Wendy Carlos, (nee Walter Carlos) American electronic music composer, turns 85.
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• George Cables, American session musician (pianist), turns 80.
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• Butch Walker, (born Bradley Glenn Walker III) American songwriter and record producer, turns 55.
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• Dougie Payne, (born Douglas Payne) Scottish bassist for Travis, turns 52.
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• Obie Trice, American rapper, turns 47.
• Tobin Esperance, American bassist for Papa Roach, turns 45.
• Lil' Boosie, American rapper, turns 41.
• Lil Rounds, American singer and American Idol contestant, turns 40.

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