Musical compositions written to celebrate specific events or persons are not a new concept. Verdi wrote his opera "Aida" to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. Wagner was commissioned to write a march for the Columbian Exposition in the U.S., the "American Centennial March" ("Grosser Festmarsh"). Wagner later wrote disparagingly of this, his own composition. Mozart wrote a piano concerto, the "Coronation", for that momentous event. For grandiose geographical icons, Ferde Grofe wrote the "Grand Canyon Suite" and Holst wrote the orchestral tribute to the planet" Jupiter". A composer myself, I have composed the operas "Shakespeare" and "The Political Shakespeare". I am a Wagnerian heldentenor.
Kenneth Bennett Lane, director, Richard Wagner Music Drama Institute, where artists are trained for the Wagner opera roles and the roles in the Shakespeare plays. www.WagnerOpera.com