Many people find classical music boring, but…
Classical music inspires – if you know a little bit about it.
Why a page about classical music? Aren’t there already enough concert guides, opera guides, encyclopedias and program guides? If you want to get informed, you can find all the information out there, can’t you?
There are 3 good reasons to be here. StarkConductor stands for 3 things that are the basis for everything that happens here. They are the 3 principles that guide me in getting people excited about classical music:
Interactive
To understand classical music, you have to “touch” it. If you only read, you miss the best parts.
Understandable
Learn more about classical music in a simple language. You will still get profound insights.
Relevant
You don’t have to dig through lengthy details to understand classical music. Here you get relevant and exciting info – step by step.
Principle 1
To understand classical music, you have to touch it
If you look up the term “time signature” in a standard music dictionary, you will find an explanation of the following kind:
"The time signature of a piece usually describes a pattern of equal basic beats and counts, creating the basic temporal structure of the piece."
Got it? If you’ve already studied a bit of classical music or even play music yourself, maybe. But you don’t learn “time signature” from just reading it. You have to experience it, hear it, touch it!
So it is with many aspects of classical music. If you limit yourself to just reading about classical music, you’ll miss out on the great stuff. That would be like reading a recipe when you’re hungry.
That’s why StarkConductor content is as interactive as possible. I want you to perceive classical music from a variety of perspectives. It’s my belief that you have to “touch”, experience, listen to, and try out classical music to understand it.
Articles for "touching" classical music
Principle 2
Simple can also be profound
You know the popular belief:
"Classical music is only for intellectuals, bores and snobs."
This opinion exists because classical music is usually explained in a far too complicated way. It is made into something more sublime than it is.
Classical music draws from full life! All the composers you may have heard of – Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms – were people with deeply human problems. It is very important to me to bring you this human side of classical music here at StarkConductor.
In opera, this becomes even clearer: opera plots are bursting with action, murder, intrigue and much more. Unfortunately, this is rarely conveyed in the dusty opera guides. There, instead, it is hidden behind intellectual formulations.
Here at StarkConductor, I want you to find your own personal approach to classical music. That is why I use simple language.
But: simple does not mean superficial. This is also a common misunderstanding. Often when reading about classical music, you get the feeling that the target audience is either professionals or rank beginners. I think the middle ground is the right one.
That’s why I go into detail here at StarkConductor without tiring you out with long-winded explanations.
Simple and profound
Principle 3
Relevant info that will benefit you
Imagine you want to find out about the piece you’re going to see before you go to the opera. What do you do? You might take a look into a typical opera guide.
After you find the opera in question, you are first bludgeoned by a long list of soloists (without anyone explaining what soloists actually are). There you read, for example:
Floria Tosca (Dramatic Soprano, also Young Dramatic Soprano, m. r.)
Does this line bring you any benefit? You can probably guess that a role with the name Floria Tosca will appear in the opera.
But you have no chance of understanding all that is written in the parenthesis unless you have studied the German Fach system. And anyway, what is “m. r.” supposed to mean? (Spoiler: it means “major role”).
Don’t get me wrong: this information can be interesting if you’ve already studied opera and classical music extensively. But if you’re an interested opera-goer looking for quick and easy information about an opera, they’re simply irrelevant.
Here at StarkConductor, I’m all about picking you up where you are. I want StarkConductor content to help you experience a concert or opera visit much more intensely.
That’s why StarkConductor doesn’t fob off opera characters with one line, but presents them as multifaceted characters. Terms that you may encounter in connection with your concert or opera visit are explained. Works are introduced and embedded in their historical context.
