As we prepare for the Big Turn Music Festival in the Red Wing shop (join us!) we are reflecting on the notion that art inspires music. There are examples of this throughout history. Here were a few we found interesting!
Goya and Grenados
Enrique Grenados (1867-1916) was a Spanish composer who’s masterpiece Goyescas was composed as an expression of the paintings of fellow Spaniard Francisco De Goya (1746-1828). Both artists were influenced by the Spanish wars, nationalism, and the Romantic era of art and music. Goyescas was originally written as a piano suite in 1911, and later adapted into an opera which debuted at The Met in New York City in 1916. (Source. Source.)
Hokusai and Debussy
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is the woodblock artist of the famed Under the Wave off Kanagawa, aka The Great Wave. It is suggested in the art world that this work inspired Claude Debussy’s (1862-1918) also famed La Mer. Author Charlotte Landru-Chandès stated of La Mer, “The work is unquestionably pictorial in nature.” Debussy had actually aspired to be a painter! Though he never took that artistic course, Debussy’s work as an art inspired composer has stood the test of time, as does Hokusai’s Mount Fuji series. (Source.)
Seurat and Sondheim/Lapine
Georges-Pierre Seurat (1859-1891) is noted for his development and application of the pointillism technique, seen in his most famous work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. This painting inspired an entire Tony Award winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George by Stephan Sondheim (1930-) and James Lapine (1949-). The entire production focuses on a “fictional” George Seurat and his immersion into both an outer and inner world that shapes the painting. (Source. Source.)
Georges-Pierre Seurat
Van Gogh and Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux’s (1916-2013) orchestral work Timbres, espace, mouvement was subtitled La nuit etoilée (The Starry Night). This reflects his inspiration which was drawn directly from Vincent Van Gogh’s (1853-1890) renowned work of the same name. Dutilleux’s choice of prominent solo instruments for his composition (wind and percussion) “represents the movements of the clouds and the light of the stars and the moon.” (Source. Source.)
Van Gogh and McLean
Van Gogh had an eclectic 20th century fan club, with Don McLean (1945-) composing a hit song who’s lyrics tell the story of Van Gogh’s struggle with psychosis and society. Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) is somewhat of an ode and certainly a validation of Van Gogh’s under-appreciated brilliance as an artist. The song references a number of Van Gogh’s works as well as his artistic style and process. (Source.)
We were honored this past August to have a hand in preserving a very significant and special piece of history. The letter, dated 1920, contains a seal that holds pieces of lead from the “bone box” which held and transferred the bones of “probably thirty Pilgrims who died in Plymouth two hundred and fifty years ago.” The writer eloquently stated, “In looking at this piece of lead you will visualize the entire compass of American history starting with a handful of stalwart men on Plymouth Rock, to a nation of 110,000,000 people.” 
