Deep Focus: Enriching the Aspen Experience
An array of micro-essays by accomplished musicologists, curated to enhance and enrich your historical and aesthetic engagement with the musical programming offered at Aspen’s 2022 Season.
Musical Ecology in Aspen

In this short essay, Professor Denise von Glahn guides the reader in noticing the ways the natural world is present in both familiar and new music, and indeed in appreciating the natural beauty that surrounds us at every concert at the Tent.
(Continue Reading)The Past and Present of Mariachi

Professor Lauryn Salazar provides an introduction to the form and tradition of Mariachi, dispelling an oft-repeated but questionable story about the origins of the performance tradition, then tracing the rise of Mariachi.
(Continue Reading)Beethoven and the Launching of an Idea

The greatest force for reshaping American attitudes toward music was that of one composer—Ludwig van Beethoven—and one genre in particular, his symphonies...classical music, and especially symphony orchestra, still enjoy a prestige born of the first American performances of Beethoven symphonies in the 1840s.
(Continue Reading)Finding George Bridgetower: The Violinist Behind Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata

Long a staple of the solo violin repertoire, Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata in A Major (Opus 47) has played an outsized role in American cultural history, but not for the reasons we might think. Beethoven collaborated on the piece with George Polgreen Bridgetower (1778–1860), a violin virtuoso whose capabilities impressed Beethoven enough that he later recommended him to others and called the piece “Sonata mulattica” to acknowledge Bridgetower’s African ancestry.
(Continue Reading)The Lifelong Suffering of a Genius: Beethoven’s Personal Struggle

We often hear about early trauma and its impact psychologically. While many are able to successfully counter the devastating effects of trauma through regular counseling and other professional resources, for others, it can remain a continual struggle. In Ludwig van Beethoven’s case, his very harsh beginning continued to impact his sense of self and personal relationships for his entire life.
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