The Impact Of Travel On Composition.

Many compositions are inspired by the composer's travel to a new country. Examples that come to mind are Mendelssohn's 'Italian' (No. 4) and 'Scotch' (No. 3) symphonies, and Dvorak's 'New World' Symphony (No. 9). In a more general sense, Mozart was a great traveler.

What other examples do you know of compositions inspired by a composer's travel to a new country?

Have you yourself had any composition inspired by your travel to another country? How did the travel inspire the composition?

Why do you think travelling to a new country inspires - or might inspire - composition?

Can you think of any composers (other than Mozart) who have travelled a lot? Conversely, can you think of composers who have travelled very little, or never?

Well-traveled composers I can easily recall:

Tchaikovsky (toured most of Europe plus being among the first major composers to cross the Atlantic and tour America as well).

Mahler (held a job in the US).

Johann Strauss II (on nearly worldwide demand, including tours to Russia and the US).

Haendel (an England-based German composer writing Italian-style opera).

Glinka (Spain and Germany among his destinations).

Wagner (always on the run for both political and financial reasons).

Liszt (a superstar performer).

Paganini (Liszt's forerunner).

Chopin (a lifelong exilee who also took vacations in Spanish resorts with his lover and worsened his health by touring Britain).

Debussy (was a protegé of Mme. von Meck in Russia, along with Tchaikovsky).

Rimsky-Korsakov (Naval officers tend to travel a lot anyways).

Berlioz (toured most of Europe including Russia).

Most composers from the early 20st Century onwards (including Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Prokofiev, among many others), a lot of which had to sought refuge abroad at some point of their lives.

Non-traveling composers:

Verdi (he wouldn't ever get into a ship due to a phobia, even refusing to atend Aïda's premiere in Cairo).

Beethoven (rarely got out of Vienna once he arrived).

Schubert (unable to pay for even a carriage, plus a very short life).

Mussorgsky (eternally grounded thanks to a bureaucratic job and gallons of vodka).

More on this topic to come...

Tchaikovsky was very enamored with Italy during his sojourns there and wrote a few works commemorating his visits (e.g. Capriccio Italien, Souvenir de Florence).

Though he did not leave what we call Austria today, Schubert thrived on travel. Being a self-claimed Schubert aficionado, I know from some research that his summer vacations to Steyr and Bad Gastein left very lasting impressions on his works, maybe most obviously in the ninth symphony. In fact summer was often Schubert's happiest times - though typically his least productive. Following his vacations he would be like a bat out of hell writing works of all kinds. The summers when he was forced to stay in Vienna because of his illness, while more musically productive, he was significantly depressed. I believe for Schubert, travel and taking breaks from composing was vital to his musical existence.

Examples of compositions inspired by visits to new countries:

Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, Op. 45, and Souvenir of Florence, Op. 70 (both about Italy), plus Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher, Op. 42 and the Second Symphony, Op. 17 (both about Ukraine, then known as "Little Russia").

Dvórak's Humoresque, Op. 99 (listen to the rhythmic pattern of this one while thinking of that of a train's movement over the tracks) and the American Quartet, Op. 96 (both, of course, about the US), as well as the already named New World Symphony, Op. 95.

Aaron Copland's El Salón México.

Glinka's Jota Aragonesa.

Gershwin's An American in Paris.

Rimsky-Korsakov's First Symphony, Op. 1, written during a cruise including England, the US and Brazil.

Because of the pro-Italian classicist rage of the time, for a lot of Renaissance composers born away from Italy traveling there to learn the craft of composition was all but essential in order to be successful. Though I'm sure it's much less a matter of being inspired, these composers nonetheless were heavily influenced by their time studying in Italy.

Some of the composers described above:

Josquin des Prez

Philippe Verdelot

Adrian Willaert

Jacques Arcadelt

Cipriano de Rore

Orlando di Lasso

Heinrich Schütz (arguably transitional between Renaissance and Baroque)

Couple more to add:

Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture...aka Fingal's cave...from his visit to Scotland

Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol

The Iberia movement from Debussy's Images pour orchestre

I'll add more when I think of them

Maria Schneider - Hang Gliding - inspired by hang gliding while on a trip to Brazil. Listen to her intro here: , but watch this video instead ;)

Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol

I ommitted this one deliberately, since I'm not sure of Rimsky-Korsakov ever being to Spain itself.

I ommitted this one deliberately, since I'm not sure of Rimsky-Korsakov ever being to Spain itself.

Hmm you might be right. I thought he was inspired by Spanish themes when he visited Spain during his naval years, even though he wrote the piece much later in his life.