International Music Day — description and history of the holiday

Music comes second to silence when it comes to expressing the inexpressible!

On October 1, the International Music Day (article in Russian^[ru] — Международный день музыки) is celebrated annually all over the world^[ru], which was established on the initiative of the International Music Council (IMC) at UNESCO. The decision to hold the International Music Day was made at the 15th IMC General Assembly in Lausanne in 1973.

Composer Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the initiators of the establishment of International Music Day.

On November 30, 1974, the Chairman of the International Music Council, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and his deputy Boris Yarustovsky addressed the IMC members with a letter:

The first International Music Day, established by the International Music Council, in accordance with the resolution of the 15th General Assembly of the IMC, held in Lausanne in 1973, will be held on October 1, 1975.

The purpose of this Day:

— dissemination of musical art in all layers of society;

— the realization of UNESCO's ideals of peace and friendship between peoples, the development of cultures, the exchange of experience and mutual respect for each other's aesthetic values.

The letter also contains a plan of musical events that could be dedicated to this Day:

accent concerts;
creative meetings with composers, performers, musicologists;
exhibitions of musical instruments and works of art and photographs related to music.

The full text of the letter is published on the official IMC website on the Internet^[ru].

The holiday is celebrated annually all over the world with large concert programs, with the participation of the best artists and art groups. On this day, compositions that have entered the treasury of world culture are heard. Creative meetings with composers, performers, musicologists are also held, thematic exhibitions and educational events are organized, which contributes to the goal of spreading music as art in a variety of communities.

Music has great power. There are few people in the world who are indifferent to music. Many composers have tried to use it to express the state of their soul. Their great names will always be gratefully pronounced by descendants.

And today music is able to excite our feelings and have a strong influence on our emotions. Music does not age, it will live as long as a person will exist. And the International Music Day implements the idea of rapprochement and friendship between peoples, mutual enrichment of cultures, because the language of music is international and understandable to everyone.

There is such a power in music,
Such sweet power.
What is worth getting under it,
And life^[ru] will seem beautiful...

«Music connected us» — Tatiana Ovsienko

August 24th marks International Strange Music Day, or Unusual Music Day. The motto of this day is "listen without prejudice," and the goal is to discover new works of music. This holiday was created by American musician Patrick Grant in 1998. This composer's works combine several genres and styles: from pop and classical music to post-punk and ambient. Because of this unconventional approach, the musician was unable to find a studio willing to record his album or even a single disc. He eventually founded his own label, Strange Music, and to promote it, he added an unusual date, August 24th, to the holiday calendar. This day marks the was born^[ru] of Grant's grandfather, who was his mentor and supported all creative endeavors. This day exists to introduce people to new genres and styles of music that broaden horizons and allow them to see the world around them in a new way.

Music is the most amazing and unique representation of this world and everything that exists within it. Music sets the mood; it soothes, energizes, inspires, brings peace, and stirs the emotions. Music is eternal...

Happy Music Day Greetings

Happy International Music Day!
I wish you boundless inspiration, of course,
Great happiness and sincere Love^[ru],
And may all your dreams come true.

May your life flow as if set to music,
Beneath a bright and peaceful sky.
May you be surrounded by grace everywhere,
And never have cause for sorrow.

***

Today is truly a special day —
International Music Day!
For music will surely live forever,
As long as there are musicians on Earth^[ru]!

We cannot imagine life^[ru] without melodies;
We sing songs as we wake,
We drift off to lullabies since childhood,
And recognize a tune from just three notes!

Without music, life would be dull;
Music fills our hearts with light!
Timeless melodies that touch the soul
Will never go out of style!

Servant of Music — vivat to you, vivat!
The musician is consumed by a wild passion —
Tormented by notes, suffering through scales,
He immerses us in a sea of sound.

What a soaring flight, what rapture and delight!
Talent and hard work know no defeat...
Maestro, be health^[ru]! And may the audience's love
Give you strength and set your blood^[ru] racing!

***

Music is magic—it can work wonders!

It is a bond that connects people. Music can be energizing or soothing, but either way, it shields us from life's troubles and lifts a bad mood.

Happy Day of Magic! Happy Music Day!

Quotes and aphorisms of celebrities about music

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin: "Music is inferior to one love^[ru], but love is also a melody".
Anatole France: "How to determine where the useful ends and the pleasant begins? Maybe the song is useless? But the "Marseillaise" and "Carmagnola" swept away the armies of kings and emperors!".
Henri Bergson: "When music cries, the whole of humanity cries with it, the whole of nature cries".
Aristotle: "Music is capable of having a certain effect on the ethical side of the soul; and since music has such properties, then, obviously, it should be included among the subjects of youth education".
Bettina von Arnim: "Music is a mediator between spiritual and sensual life".
Vasily Alexandrovich Sukhomlinsky: "Music is a powerful source of thought. Without musical education, full-fledged mental development is impossible".
V. A. Sukhomlinsky: "Music unites the moral, emotional and aesthetic spheres of a person. Music is the language of feelings".
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Music is the universal language of mankind".
George Frideric Handel: "I would be very sorry if my music only entertained my listeners: I tried to make them better".
Gerhart Hauptmann: "All music comes from the heart^[ru] and must reach the heart again".
Joseffo Tsarlino: "The one who does not enjoy music is created without harmony".
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev: "Music is a mind embodied in beautiful sounds".
Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg: "Music, without mentioning anything, can say everything".
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Music — in the best sense of the word — needs less novelty; on the contrary, the older it is, the more correct, the stronger it affects".
I. Goethe: "There is something magical in rhythm; it makes us believe that the sublime belongs to us".
Jean Paul: "Of all the arts, music is the most human and widespread".
Christoph Willibald Gluck: "Music should play the same role in relation to a poetic work as the brightness of colors plays in relation to an accurate drawing".
K. Beber: "Music is truly a universal language".
Leo Tolstoy Tolstoy: "Music makes me forget myself, my true position, it takes me to some other, not my position; under the influence of music, it seems to me that I feel what I don't actually feel, that I understand what I don't understand, that I can do what I don't understand. what I can't do".
L. N. Tolstoy: "Music is a shorthand for feelings".
L. Beethoven: "Music is a revelation higher than wisdom and philosophy".
L. Beethoven: "Music must strike fire from the human soul".
Martin Luther: "Music is the best consolation for a saddened person".
Mozart: "Music, even in the most terrible dramatic situations, should always captivate the ear, always remain music".
Pyotr Tchaikovsky: "Beauty in music is in simplicity and naturalness".
Plato: "Music inspires the whole world, supplies the soul with wings, promotes the flight of imagination; music gives life and fun to everything that exists... She can be called the embodiment of all that is beautiful and all that is sublime".
Pierre Reverdy: "Music is the most silent art".
P. I. Tchaikovsky: "Music is a treasure trove into which every nationality contributes its own, for the common benefit".
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Music encourages us to think eloquently".
R. Wagner: "The best music will have an unenviable fate if it trusts mediocre poetry".
Richard Wagner: "Music cannot think, but it can embody thought".
Romain Rolland: "Music, like rain, drop by drop, seeps into the heart and enlivens it".
R. Wagner: "Melody is the only form of music; music is unthinkable without melody, and music and melody are inseparable".
R. Rolland: "Good music is pure as a child and wise as eyes^[ru] the elder".
Stendhal: "Sheet music is just the art of recording ideas, the main thing is to have them".
Sukhomlinsky: "As gymnastics straightens the body, so music straightens the human soul".
William Shakespeare: "Music is terrible when there is no measure or measure in it".
Tchaikovsky: "The musical material, i.e. melody, harmony and rhythm, is certainly inexhaustible. Millions of years will pass, and if music in our sense still exists, then the same seven basic tones of our scale, in their melodic and harmonic combinations, enlivened by rhythm, will still serve as a source of new musical thoughts".
Tchaikovsky: "Where words are powerless, a more eloquent language, music, appears fully armed".
Shakespeare: "Music drowns out sadness".
Schumann: "In music, as in chess, the queen (melody) has the greatest power, but the king (harmony) is crucial".
Schumann: "It would be a small art that would give only sound, without having the means to express mental states".
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann: "The secret of music is that it finds an inexhaustible source of expression where speech stops".
Edvard Grieg: "Words sometimes need music, but music doesn't need anything".
Eugene Delacroix: Music often inspires me with deep thoughts. Listening to her, I feel a great desire to create".
E. Grieg: "When I write my songs, the main thing for me is not to compose music, but to satisfy the poet's innermost intentions".