This link roundup features a history lesson, a traveling ukulele player, and a look at what really inspired Mozart's Don Giovanni. Enjoy!
- Benjamin Franklin may have discovered electricity, sure, but did you know he also invented an instrument? The glass armonica looks crazy and impractical, but the music you can make with it is totally hypnotic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdtLK9pAh5k&feature=youtu.be
- Speaking of American history, several of the founding fathers were just as enamored with Handel's "Messiah" as we are.The Boston Globe takes a closer look.
- As if we needed more reasons to love Hamilton, ClassicFM scouted out all the reasons why it's basically classical music.Of note: not only does the hit musical follow an operatic structure, there's also a bit of actual Wagner hidden inside.
- Ok, so this isn't classical, but it is absurdly charming: an Emerson College student visited every single city and town in Massachusetts, and recorded himself playing a single note on his ukulele in each of them. Then he put them all together, and made this delightful song, called "Sidewalks:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RIVAtZ1BtM&feature=youtu.be
- Classical-music.com's "musical advent calendar" presents a story of an overindulgent composer every day until Christmas. Yesterday's pick: none other than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Read about his hangover-fueled masterpiece,Don Giovanni - then watch Riccardo Muti conduct the overture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaINPnyGiPQ&feature=youtu.be
