Art & Music Appreciation: Week Three (August 18, 2025-August 22, 2025)

ART APPRECIATION

From The Birds of America, original drawings by Audubon. Published as a series from 1827-1838.
¹

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was interested in birds, nature, drawing, and music as a young child. Born in what is now Haiti, he lived in France as a child and came to America at age eighteen. At his family’s estate near Philadelphia, he hunted and drew birds. He also conducted the first known bird-banding experiment in North America. He tied strings around the legs of Eastern phoebes and learned that the birds returned to the very same nesting places each year. Audubon struggled off and on as a businessman, and in 1819, he sailed down the Mississippi to add to his portfolio of birds. After several years, Audubon sailed to England, where his drawings and paintings of birds were published as a book. This book called The American Woodsman, was a huge success. He continued throughout his life to study and draw birds and other animals. Today, the name Audubon is still strongly associated with birds and bird conservation.
²

MUSIC APPRECIATION

“Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from The Magic Flute

 This aria is part of the second act of the opera The Magic Flute. Pamina, Queen of the Night, sings two main arias in the opera. In this one, she is very mad at her rival sorcerer, Sarastro.
³

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer, widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. With Haydn and Beethoven he brought to its height the achievement of the Viennese Classical school. Unlike any other composer in musical history, he wrote in all the musical genres of his day and excelled in every one. His taste, his command of form, and his range of expression have made him seem the most universal of all composers; yet, it may also be said that his music was written to accommodate the specific tastes of particular audiences. ⁴