In the memory of my father, Albert 
(1917 -1958), an amateur violin player.

Works of arts painted by artists from different countries, having the music as a common topic, are displayed below. Please point on the stamps with the mouse index to get some additional information.

In Western culture, dictionaries usually define music as an art that is concerned with combining sounds—particularly pitches—to produce an artefact that has beauty or attractiveness, that follows some kind of internal logic and exhibits intelligible structure, and that requires special skill on the part of its creator. Clearly, music is not easy to define, and yet historically most people have recognized the concept of music and generally agreed on whether or not a given sound is musical.

In the West and in the high cultures of Asia, it is possible to distinguish three basic strata: first, “art” or “classical” music, composed and performed by trained professionals; second, folk music, shared by the population at large and transmitted orally; and, third, popular music, performed by professionals, disseminated through radio, television, records, film, and print, and consumed by the urban mass public.

Opinions also differ as to the origins and spiritual value of music. In some African cultures music is seen as something uniquely human; among some Native Americans it is thought to have originated as a way for spirits to communicate.

In Western culture music is regarded as inherently good, and sounds that are welcome are said to be “music to the ears”. In some other cultures—for example, Islamic culture—it is of low value, associated with sin and evil, and attempts have been made to outlaw its practice. (After Microsoft Encarta 1996).

A vessel gives to emptiness a form, the music to silence (Georges Braque).