Portal:Music

The Music Portal

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 ceremonies. 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 music being a common use for MP3 players, CD players, and smartphones. (Full article...)

General images - load new batch

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

Image 1Sheet music for part of the Missa Papae Marcelli by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (from History of music)
Image 2An ancient Egyptian mural of people playing music. (from History of music)
Image 3Clara and Robert Schumann (from History of music)
Image 4The monumental Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century BCE, from Hubei (from History of music)
Image 5Kanye West (2007) emerged during the decade as an important hip-hop producer and album artist. (from Album era)
Image 6An example of mechanically printed sheet music (from Music industry)
Image 7J. S. Bach (from History of music)
Image 8US 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)
Image 9A young couple listening to music on an iPod Mini, 2006 (from Album era)
Image 10Frances 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)
Image 11c. 379 CE Bas relief of Sassanid women playing the chang in Taq-e Bostan, Iran (from History of music)
Image 12A Rhodes College student listening to the 1969 Yes LP on campus, c. 1970 (from Album era)
Image 13Drawing of the tablet with the Hymn to Nikkal (c. 1400 BCE), the oldest of the Hurrian songs (from History of music)
Image 14Alleluia nativitas by Perotin from the Codex Guelf.1099 (from History of music)
Image 15Pink Floyd (1973) performing The Dark Side of the Moon, a leading commercial success of the LP era (from Album era)
Image 16A musician in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 17A studio engineer working with an audio mixer in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 18Musicians working in a recording studio (from Music industry)
Image 19Platinum records by Elvis Presley, Prince, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bruce Springsteen, at Julien's Auctions (from Album era)
Image 20Two musicians of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), Shanghai Museum (from History of music)
Image 21Frank Sinatra (c. 1955), an early pop album artist (from Album era)
Image 22The 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)
Image 23The Rolling Stones in 1967 (from Album era)
Image 24Guillaume 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)
Image 25Stevie Wonder, among the era's innovative artists (from Album era)
Image 26The portable Discman CD player, which was released in 1984 and precipitated the displacement of LPs (from Album era)
Image 27Circular definition of "musicality" (from Elements of music)
Image 28Beyoncé (2016) popularized the surprise-album strategy of the 2010s. (from Album era)
Image 29An LP record on a phonograph (from Album era)
Image 30A young man browsing through a record store in Bonn, West Germany, June 1988 (from Album era)
Image 31A smartphone displaying playlists on Spotify, 2010. The streaming service became a dominant and redefining platform for music consumption through the decade. (from Album era)
Image 32The Beatles have been credited by music historians for heralding the album era. (from Album era)
Image 33An audience watching a concert (from Music industry)
Image 34An HMV record shop in Wakefield, England closing its operation in 2013 (from Album era)
Image 35The Japanese boy band Arashi, who had the world's best-selling album (5x20 All the Best!!) in 2019 (from Album era)
Image 36The 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)
Image 37A radio broadcasting system from 1906 (from Music industry)
Image 38Terracotta statue of a Parthian lute player (from History of music)
Image 39Notation indicating differing pitch, dynamics, articulation, and instrumentation (from Elements of music)
Image 40As 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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Featured articles - load new batch

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

Image 1
William Sterndale Bennett – engraving after a portrait by John Everett Millais, 1873

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. By the age of twenty, he had begun to make a reputation as a concert pianist, and his compositions received high praise. Among those impressed by Bennett was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn, who invited him to Leipzig. There Bennett became friendly with Robert Schumann, who shared Mendelssohn's admiration for his compositions. Bennett spent three winters composing and performing in Leipzig.

In 1837 Bennett began to teach at the RAM, with which he was associated for most of the rest of his life. For twenty years he taught there, later also teaching at Queen's College, London. Among his pupils during this period were Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, and Tobias Matthay. Throughout the 1840s and 1850s he composed little, although he performed as a pianist and directed the Philharmonic Society for ten years. He also actively promoted concerts of chamber music. From 1848 onward, his career was punctuated by antagonism between himself and the conductor Michael Costa. (Full article...)
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"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from Nirvana's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling songs of all time. The success propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts and is often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream. It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain.

The guitarist and singer, Kurt Cobain, described "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as an attempt to write "the ultimate pop song", inspired by the soft-and-loud dynamics of the Pixies. The title derives from a phrase written by his friend Kathleen Hanna, the singer of the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit." Hanna was referencing the deodorant Teen Spirit, but Cobain misinterpreted it as a revolutionary slogan. (Full article...)
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Monteverdi by Bernardo Strozzi (c. 1630)

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.

Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua (c. 1590–1613) and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics. (Full article...)
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The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released on May 27, 1963, through Columbia Records. The record marks the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. His debut album Bob Dylan contains only two original songs, whereas eleven of the thirteen songs on Freewheelin' are Dylan's 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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Stanford in 1921

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was educated at the University of Cambridge before studying music in Leipzig and Berlin. He was instrumental in raising the status of the Cambridge University Musical Society, attracting international stars to perform with it.

While still an undergraduate, Stanford was appointed organist of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882, aged 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. From 1887 he was also Professor of Music at Cambridge. As a teacher, Stanford was sceptical about modernism, and based his instruction chiefly on classical principles as exemplified in the music of Brahms. Among his pupils were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own, such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. As a conductor, Stanford held posts with the Bach Choir and the Leeds Triennial Music Festival. (Full article...)
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"The One" is a song by American singer Tamar Braxton from her second studio album, Love and War, which was released on September 3, 2013. Braxton co-wrote the song with its producer, K.E. on the Track, along with LaShawn Daniels, Christian Ward, Jean-Claude Oliver, and Shaunice Lasha Jones. Epic and Streamline Records issued it as the album's second single on May 7, 2013. "The One" is about commitment to a romantic partner, and the production uses a sample of Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" (1983) and a portion of the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" (1994).

The song received positive reviews from critics who associated it with summer and praised Braxton's vocals. Reviewers commented on the use of samples, believing they were already overused in past music. The single peaked at number four on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 and number 34 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Gil Green directed the music video, which features Braxton on a date at the Santa Monica Pier. Braxton further promoted "The One" through live performances, including on her Love and War Tour in 2014. (Full article...)
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The official arrangement of the Russian national anthem, completed in 2001

The State Anthem of the Russian Federation is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with Gabriel El-Registan on the original anthem. From 1944, that earliest version replaced "The Internationale" as a new, more Soviet-centric and Russia-centric Soviet anthem. The same melody, but without any lyrics, was used after 1956. A second version of the lyrics was written by Mikhalkov in 1970 and adopted in 1977, placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism, and without mentioning Joseph Stalin by name.

The Russian SFSR was the only constituent republic of the Soviet Union without its own regional anthem, instead using the national anthem of the Soviet Union. The lyric-free "Patriotic Song", composed by Mikhail Glinka, was officially adopted in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia, and confirmed in 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. This anthem proved to be unpopular with the Russian public and with many politicians and public figures, because of its tune and lack of lyrics, and consequently its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions. The government sponsored contests to create lyrics for the unpopular anthem, but none of the entries were adopted. (Full article...)
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Lions is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Black Crowes. It was released in 2001 as their first album on V2 Records following their departure from Columbia, and is their only studio album to feature guitarist Audley Freed. Lions was recorded in New York City in January and February of that year, and was produced by Don Was. Bass guitar duties were shared by Rich Robinson and Was, as Greg Rzab had left the band and was not replaced until the tour that followed the release of the album.

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at its peak position of 20, selling more than 53,000 copies in its first week. Lions received mixed reviews; although the overall sound of the album generally garnered praise, a frequent complaint was the lack of "memorable" songs. The critics who rated Lions lowest considered it a poor imitation of the band's influences, such as Led Zeppelin. (Full article...)
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Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 12 September 1975 through Harvest Records in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States through Columbia Records, as their first album for the label. Based on material Pink Floyd composed while performing in Europe, Wish You Were Here was recorded over numerous sessions throughout 1975 at EMI Studios in London.

The lyrics express longing, alienation, and sardonic criticism of the music industry. The bulk of the album is taken up by "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a nine-part tribute to Syd Barrett, a Pink Floyd co-founder who had left seven years earlier due to his deteriorating mental health; Barrett coincidentally visited the studio during recording. As with their previous release, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Pink Floyd employed studio effects and synthesisers. Guest singers included Roy Harper, who sang lead on "Have a Cigar", and Venetta Fields, who sang backing vocals on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". To promote the album, Pink Floyd released the double A-side single "Have a Cigar" / "Welcome to the Machine". (Full article...)
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"Shake It Off" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the lead single from her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014). She wrote the song with its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. Inspired by the media scrutiny on Swift's public image, the lyrics are about her indifference to detractors and their negative remarks. An uptempo dance-pop song, "Shake It Off" features a looping drum beat, a Mellotron-based saxophone line, and a handclap-accented bridge. Big Machine Records released it on August 18, 2014, to promote 1989 as Swift's first pop album after her previous country image and sound.

Initial reviews mostly praised the production as catchy, but some criticized the lyrics as weak and shallow. Retrospectively, critics have considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for 1989, transforming Swift's status to that of a pop star. NME and Consequence ranked it among their best songs of the 2010s decade. The single reached the top 10 and has been certified multi-platinum in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and the UK. In the US, the single peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. (Full article...)
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1989 is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2014, through Big Machine Records. Titled after Swift's birth year as a symbolic rebirth, the album recalibrated her artistic identity from country music to pop.

Swift produced 1989 with Max Martin, Shellback, Jack Antonoff, Ryan Tedder, Nathan Chapman, and Imogen Heap. Its 1980s-inspired synth-pop production incorporates dense synthesizers, programmed drum machines, and processed electronic backing vocals, abandoning the acoustic arrangements that had characterized Swift's past albums. The songs chronicle the aftermath of a failed relationship with lyrics that expand on Swift's autobiographical details; they depict heartbreak, recovery, and self-discovery from lighthearted, wistful, and nostalgic perspectives. (Full article...)
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Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (/boʊlt/; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.

Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult became principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957, and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with several other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian summer". (Full article...)
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Illinois (styled Sufjan Stevens invites you to: Come on feel the Illinoise on the cover; sometimes spelled as Illinoise) is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. It features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois. Illinois is Stevens' second based on a U.S. state—part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a joke. It was adapted into a musical, Illinoise, in 2023 and, after playing smaller venues, opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway and was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2024, winning for Best Choreography.

Stevens recorded and produced the album at multiple venues in New York City using low-fidelity studio equipment and a variety of instruments between late 2004 and early 2005. The artwork and lyrics explore the history, culture, art, and geography of the state—Stevens developed them after analyzing criminal, literary, and historical documents, and weaved them with personal stories. Following its release, Stevens promoted Illinois with a world tour. (Full article...)
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"Your Girl" is a song recorded by American singer Mariah Carey for her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). She wrote the song with Marc Shemer, who also produced it with her under the name Scram Jones. The lyrics of "Your Girl" are about confidently approaching a potential lover. To convey this sentiment, Carey employs belting as part of her vocal performance. Influenced by disco, gospel, jazz, pop, and soul, the music drew comparisons with works by rapper Kanye West. It samples vocals and an acoustic guitar from the 2003 Adeaze song "A Life with You".

Some reviewers considered "Your Girl" as one of the best tracks on The Emancipation of Mimi; others criticized the vocals. Regretful that it was not issued as a single from the album, Carey later released two remixes featuring rappers Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, and N.O.R.E as part of a 2021 digital extended play. She performed the song live during the 2006 Adventures of Mimi concert tour and the 2024 Celebration of Mimi concert residency in Las Vegas. (Full article...)
Image 15

Cher in 2019

Cher (/ʃɛər/ SHAIR; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, bold fashion and visual presentation, and multifaceted career. Her screen roles often reflect her public image as a strong-willed, outspoken woman. An influential figure in popular culture, Cher has sustained a career spanning more than six decades through continual reinvention.

Cher rose to fame in 1965 as part of the folk rock duo Sonny & Cher, whose hit single "I Got You Babe" became emblematic of 1960s counterculture. She simultaneously launched a solo career with moody pop songs such as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", whose theatrical storytelling foreshadowed her 1970s US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady". After a period of acting, she released the hair metal albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989) and Love Hurts (1991), scoring international number-one hits "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". At 52, she released the dance-pop album Believe (1998), which introduced the "Cher effect"—a stylized use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals. Its title track became 1999's number-one song in the US and the UK's best-selling single by a female artist. In the 21st century, she released her highest-charting US Billboard 200 albums, Closer to the Truth (2013) and Dancing Queen (2018), each debuting at number three. (Full article...)

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Selected pictures

Image 1
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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William Grant Still
Photograph credit: Carl Van Vechten; restored by Adam Cuerden
William Grant Still (1895–1978) was an American composer of nearly 200 works, including five symphonies and nine operas. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers", Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera. His first symphony, entitled Afro-American Symphony, was until 1950 the most widely performed symphony composed by an American. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and later Edgard Varèse. Still was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra and the first to have an opera performed on national television. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, he is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

This picture of Still was taken by Carl Van Vechten in 1949; the photograph is in the collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
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Henrik Freischlader
Photograph: Stefan Krause
Henrik Freischlader (b. 1982) is a German blues guitarist and singer. He began his career in 1998, and established his own label, Cable Car Records, in 2009.
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Thomas Linley the elder
Painting: Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Linley the elder (17 January 1733 – 19 November 1795) was an English bass singer and musician. He began his musical career at age 11 in Bath, becoming apprentice to the organist Thomas Chilcot. Linley married in 1752 and fathered eight children, supporting the family by working as a music teacher. As his children grew he developed their musical talent and was able to draw an increasing amount of income from their concerts. When the Bath Assembly Rooms opened in 1771, Linley became musical director and continued to promote his children's careers. He was eventually able to move to London with the thousands of pounds which he had amassed from their concerts. In addition to his children Linley taught tenor Charles Dignum, singer and actress Anna Maria Crouch, and novelist Frances Sheridan. He collaborated with his son Thomas Linley the younger in penning the comic opera The Duenna, with libretto by his son-in-law Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

This picture is an oil-on-canvas painting created around 1770 by Thomas Gainsborough, showing Linley holding his "Elegies for Three Voices". It hangs in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
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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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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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Image 7
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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Médée
Graphic: Giuseppe Palanti
Médée is a French-language opera by the composer Luigi Cherubini. Set in the ancient city of Corinth, Greece, it features a libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman and is based on Euripides's tragic play Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée. The opera premiered in 1797 at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris. The long-lost final aria, which Cherubini appears to have deleted from his original manuscript, was discovered by researchers from the University of Manchester and Stanford University by employing X-ray techniques to reveal areas that the composer had blackened out.

This picture shows the title page for a vocal score of the 1909 hybrid version of Médée.
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Frédéric Chopin
Photo credit: Louis-Auguste Bisson
The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, often incorrectly described as a daguerreotype. It is believed to have been taken in 1849 during the degenerative stages of his tuberculosis, shortly before his death. Chopin, a Polish pianist and composer of the Romantic era, is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, admired and prolific composers for the piano. He moved to Paris at the age of twenty, adopting the French variant of his name, "Frédéric-François", by which he is now known.
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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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Les Troyens
Illustration credit: Antoine Barbizet; restored by Adam Cuerden
Les Troyens (The Trojans) is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz, with a libretto written by the composer himself based on Virgil's Aeneid. The score was composed between 1856 and 1858, but Berlioz did not live long enough to see the work performed in its entirety. The first two acts were performed separately under the title La Prise de Troie. This picture shows the cover of the first-edition vocal score for La Prise de Troie, published in 1863.
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Image 12
Thelonious Monk
Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden
Thelonious Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer, and the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. He had a unique improvisational style and famously remarked, "The piano ain't got no wrong notes". He made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", and a wide range of other compositions. He was renowned for a distinctive dress style, which included suits, hats, and sunglasses. He had disappeared from the scene by the mid-1970s and made only a few appearances during the final decade of his life. This 1947 photograph of Monk was taken by the American photographer William P. Gottlieb in Minton's Playhouse, a jazz club in New York.
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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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Image 14
Zürich Opera House
Photograph: Roland Fischer
The Zürich Opera House is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since the current building was completed in 1891. It also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich.
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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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Today's Birthdays

Birthdays in Music: March 15

Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), American reedist, turns 88.
Mike Love, American singer with the Beach Boys , turns 85.
Joachim Kühn, German pianist and keyboardist, turns 82.
Jean Carn, American Soul, R&B and Jazz singer, turns 79.
Ry Cooder, American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer, turns 79.
Stomu Yamashta, Japanese composer, keyboardist, and percussionist, turns 79.
Dee Snider, (born David Daniel Snider) American singer-songwriter with Twisted Sister , turns 71.
Bunny DeBarge, American Soul singer-songwriter with DeBarge, turns 71.
Ugonna Okegwo, Brit double bassist, turns 64.
Bret Michaels, (born Bret Michael Sychak) American singer with Poison , turns 63.
Rockwell (musician), (born Kenneth Gordy) American R&B singer, turns 62.
Mark McGrath, American singer with Sugar Ray , turns 58.
Mark Hoppus, American bassist and vocalist with Blink-182 , turns 54.
Will.i.am, (born William James Adams, Jr.) American rapper and producer, turns 51.
Joe Hahn, (born Joseph Hahn) American disc jockey with Linkin Park , turns 49.
Siobhan Magnus, American singer and former American Idol contestant, turns 36.