reVoice

Riva Capellari

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Located in Brookside in the heart of Kansas City

Music Through The Centuries

On a sultry evening in Florence, Italy, a chance encounter outside Santa Croce Cathedral with black attired men and women clasping the tell-tale music folders, led me into the spectacular interior of this centuries old church. A free concert was being presented, celebrating the 150th birthday of Giacomo Rossini, who is buried there. Listening to his Stabat Mater , I was struck by the realization of the timelessness of music, that these walls were resounding once again with music that had been presented to audiences literally cneturies ago.

Enjoying a 2 week sojourn in Italy, walking through the vastness of the cathedrals adorned with frescoes from the middle ages, my feet traipsing over well-worn cobblestone streets, it occurred to me how enduring is music. It’s importance in the lives and societies throughout time and its continuing power to transform an ordinary (or not so ordinary!) day into something indescribable and ethereal.

Frescoes showcasing musical instruments, beautifully carved wooden choir stalls and magnificent organs, the high Gothic Cathedrals built to be filled with sound free of electronic amplification, are all monuments to the history and universality of music.

In 2018 it is difficult to visualize composers going about their everyday lives, scribbling out their musical scores on parchment paper by candlelight in cold stone rooms; music that still echos through the centuries today, radiating glorious sound throughout concert halls, home stereos and even being channeled through earbuds!

In the centuries to come, long after I am gone, I wonder, what will be the surviving music from out time?

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