Musica is Alan LeQuire's largest sculpture commission to date. Located at Music Row, Musica features nine dancing figures in a circular composition roughly thirty-eight feet tall. There are five figures which spring forth from the base in an over-all vase form. Four more rise up in the center floating above the others. The scale of each figure is fourteen to fifteen feet, or more than twice life-size.
The dancers and part of the base is cast in bronze. The other part of the base is composed of massive natural limestone boulders.
LeQuire writes, "Dance is the physical expression of music and the piece is intended to convey that feeling to the viewer in a composition which is simple, exuberant and celebratory. The theme of the sculpture is music, because of the historical and economic significance of the site. This is the heart of Music Row, the area and the artistic activity for which Nashville is best known. The sculpture conveys the importance of music to Nashville, past, present and future, and represents all forms of music without reference to any one form or style. It is meant to provide a visual icon for the area and for the city as a whole."
"The theme is music, but the sculpture represents artistic creativity itself. An artistic idea often seems to miraculously and spontaneously burst forth. This is what happens in the sculpture, and the title MUSICA suggest this since it refers to all the 'arts of the muses.'"
Music Row in Nashville developed in the 1950s as a center of the recording industry. According to the BMI History Book, "Nashville was rapidly becoming one of the nation's major music centers.
Business was so brisk that when WSM announcer David Cobb casually referred to Nashville as 'Music City U.S.A.' during a 1950 broadcast, the term stuck. Furthermore, while it has become common to think of country music as antithetical to rock & roll, it is not only one of its main roots but mutually supportive of its development in many ways. Elvis's signing by RCA Victor was facilitated by Julian and Jean Aberbach, owners of the prestigious Hill & Range publishing firm, in exchange for the publishing rights. With his signing, RCA acknowledged the need for a branch office in the Southeast and chose Nashville as the natural location.
It was there Elvis's first RCA recording sessions occurred. Nashville played an even more crucial role in the career of the Everly Brothers. Sons of country musicians Ike and Margaret Everly, they had come to the attention of Chet Atkins in 1955, and he, in turn, introduced them to Wesley Rose, who signed them as songwriters to Acuff-Rose. Rose's friend, Cadence Record owner Archie Bleyer, heard the duo and teamed them up with one of Acuff-Rose's foremost songwriting teams, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The result was a string of classic hits, including "Bye Bye Love" (#2 on the pop charts in 1957), "All I Have To Do Is Dream," "Wake Up Little Susie," and "Bird Dog."
Nashville's stature was clearly growing in the music industry, and any number of New York and Hollywood-based publishing companies set up offices in the city. However, as rock & roll now dominated the airwaves, country sales dropped. Record executives realized that country must modify its format to compete in the marketplace and "cross over" onto the pop charts.
Two of the chief architects of this transformation were Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins. Bradley, a former staff pianist and bandleader for WSM, was owner of one of the first recording studios on what was soon to be known as Music Row, Nashville's Sixteenth Avenue South. Atkins, a virtuoso guitarist, had been working part time as an A&R assistant for RCA since 1952 and was appointed to run its new Nashville studio in 1957. Each found a way to soften and sweeten country music, thereby facilitating its wider public acceptance. Mellow strings and vocal choruses were added, and the smooth, sophisticated result was eventually dubbed the Nashville Sound." (quote from BMI 50th Anniversary History Book )
Musica is Alan LeQuire's largest sculpture commission to date. Located at Music Row, Musica features nine dancing figures in a circular composition roughly thirty-eight feet tall. There are five figures which spring forth from the base in an over-all vase form. Four more rise up in the center floating above the others. The scale of each figure is fourteen to fifteen feet, or more than twice life-size.
The dancers and part of the base is cast in bronze. The other part of the base is composed of massive natural limestone boulders.
LeQuire writes, "Dance is the physical expression of music and the piece is intended to convey that feeling to the viewer in a composition which is simple, exuberant and celebratory. The theme of the sculpture is music, because of the historical and economic significance of the site. This is the heart of Music Row, the area and the artistic activity for which Nashville is best known. The sculpture conveys the importance of music to Nashville, past, present and future, and represents all forms of music without reference to any one form or style. It is meant to provide a visual icon for the area and for the city as a whole."
"The theme is music, but the sculpture represents artistic creativity itself. An artistic idea often seems to miraculously and spontaneously burst forth. This is what happens in the sculpture, and the title MUSICA suggest this since it refers to all the 'arts of the muses.'"
Music Row in Nashville developed in the 1950s as a center of the recording industry. According to the BMI History Book, "Nashville was rapidly becoming one of the nation's major music centers.
Business was so brisk that when WSM announcer David Cobb casually referred to Nashville as 'Music City U.S.A.' during a 1950 broadcast, the term stuck. Furthermore, while it has become common to think of country music as antithetical to rock & roll, it is not only one of its main roots but mutually supportive of its development in many ways. Elvis's signing by RCA Victor was facilitated by Julian and Jean Aberbach, owners of the prestigious Hill & Range publishing firm, in exchange for the publishing rights. With his signing, RCA acknowledged the need for a branch office in the Southeast and chose Nashville as the natural location.
It was there Elvis's first RCA recording sessions occurred. Nashville played an even more crucial role in the career of the Everly Brothers. Sons of country musicians Ike and Margaret Everly, they had come to the attention of Chet Atkins in 1955, and he, in turn, introduced them to Wesley Rose, who signed them as songwriters to Acuff-Rose. Rose's friend, Cadence Record owner Archie Bleyer, heard the duo and teamed them up with one of Acuff-Rose's foremost songwriting teams, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The result was a string of classic hits, including "Bye Bye Love" (#2 on the pop charts in 1957), "All I Have To Do Is Dream," "Wake Up Little Susie," and "Bird Dog."
Nashville's stature was clearly growing in the music industry, and any number of New York and Hollywood-based publishing companies set up offices in the city. However, as rock & roll now dominated the airwaves, country sales dropped. Record executives realized that country must modify its format to compete in the marketplace and "cross over" onto the pop charts.
Two of the chief architects of this transformation were Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins. Bradley, a former staff pianist and bandleader for WSM, was owner of one of the first recording studios on what was soon to be known as Music Row, Nashville's Sixteenth Avenue South. Atkins, a virtuoso guitarist, had been working part time as an A&R assistant for RCA since 1952 and was appointed to run its new Nashville studio in 1957. Each found a way to soften and sweeten country music, thereby facilitating its wider public acceptance. Mellow strings and vocal choruses were added, and the smooth, sophisticated result was eventually dubbed the Nashville Sound." (quote from BMI 50th Anniversary History Book )