Dr. Music Matthew Marullo

Even if you are familiar with the music of Felix Mendelssohn, this episode contains interesting facts about some of his best works - much of which was composed before the age of 20!

We do not have a formal theory of melody in the vast discipl;ine of music theory. But if we limit our examination to particular styles and particular cultural themes, you may be surprised how collections of notes can "tend" toward certain patterns!

Can a piece of music be generated from a 2-note "sigh" motif that has been used over and over again for hundreds of years? Frederic Chopin would say "yes"--as we'll see looking at his famous Opus 64 Waltz in C# Minor!

When Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his Symphony No. 5, he, like all Soviet artists, was writing under the watchful eye of Joseph Stalin. Learn how a very talented composer can disguise a seemingly nationalistic, optimistic piece as a veiled denunciation of the regime!

Discover how Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov was able to produce such a vivid impression of the sea in his classic symphonic suite, Scheherazade!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is one of Steven Spielberg's greatest movies - and features one of the greatest scores of John Williams. In this episode, we'll be looking at the last 20 minutes of the film to get a better appreciation of why Mr. Williams is the second most Oscar-nominated person in all film history!