Shostakovich is often, in musical circles, called the greatest composer of the twentieth century. Yet the quality of his music is so uneven that, while a third of it is the brain-bombing work of a divine genius, another third is almost worthless, and another third scares young violinists into abandon

20th-century music, Catastrophe, Lyrical, Melancholy, Moody, Pathos, Visceral

They say that if you play a country record backwards the singer will get a job, get married, find his dog, and quit drinking. The man who perfected the expression of intense, personal emotions and drama in country music is the inimitable Hank Williams, arguably the most influential figure in the hist

Death, Melancholy, Sublime

The exact circumstances of Giuseppe Verdi's birth are lost to history; history, and we, have wanted to know them. Some speculate he was born on October 10, 1813, others turned his supposed birthplace into a national monument, but the composer himself refused to confirm the accuracy of these biographi

Epic, Lyrical, Melancholy, Pathos