Apollo is one of the great gods of Olympus.
Apollo was the great Olympian god of prophecy and oracles, healing, music, song and poetry, archery, and the protection of the young. He was depicted as a handsome, beardless youth with long hair. The god is who affords help and wards off evil. Apollo was the national divinity of the Greeks. His representations in works of art rose from a rude wooden image to the perfect ideal of youthful manliness.
The most beautiful and celebrated among the extant representations of Apollo are the Apollo of Belvedere at Rome, which was discovered in 1503 at Rettuno, and the Apollino at Florence. In the Apollo of Belvedere, the god is represented with commanding but serene majesty; sublime intellect and physical beauty are combined in it in the most wonderful manner.
"Phoibos, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneios; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last. And so hail to you lord! I seek your favors with my song", say in Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
“All nature’s tribes to thee their difference owe, and changing seasons from thy music flow: hence, mixed by thee in equal parts, advance summer and winter in alternate dance; this claims the highest, that the lowest string, the Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring: hence by mankind Pan royal, two-horned named, shrill winds emitting through the famed; since to thy care they figured seal’s consigned, which stamps the world with forms of every kind. Hear me, blest power, and in these rites rejoice, and save thy mystics with a suppliant voice", say in Orphic Hymns to Apollo.
But whatever we may think of this, one point is certain and attested by thousands of facts, that Apollo and his worship, his festivals and oracles, had more influence upon the Greeks than any other god. It may safely be asserted, that the Greeks would never have become what they were, without the worship of Apollo: in him the brightest side of the Grecian mind is reflected.
In Roman, Renaissance and Neoclassical art, Muses depicted in sculptures or paintings are often distinguished by certain props or poses, as emblems.
Greek muse is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "song" or "poem". In Pindar, to "carry a mouse" is "to sing a song". The Muses were therefore both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: whence "music", was the art of the Muses.
For poet and lawgiver Solon, the Muses were the key to the good life, since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals every year.
The muses are typically invoked at or near the beginning of an epic poem or story.
Dante Alighieri, in Canto II of The Inferno:" Muses, o high genius, aid me now! O memory that noted what I saw, Now shall your true nobility be seen!" http://en.wikipedia.org/
Many Enlightenment figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A popular Masonic lodge in pre-Revolutionary Paris was called Neuf Soeurs ("nine sisters", i.e. nine Muses), and was attended by Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. One side-effect of this movement was the use of the word "museum" (originally, "cult place of the Muses") to refer to a place for the public display of knowledge.
The Muses were the goddesses of human inspirations. It was said that they were earlier the deities of springs. They were best known as being singers and dancers at the parties held by the gods, and were the inspiration of poetry, music, and dance.
In Greek mythology, the Muses are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. They all were water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon. The Olympian system set Apollo as their leader. However, in beginning there were three original Muses: Aoide ("song", "voice"), Melete ("practice" or "occasion") and Mneme ("memory"). Together, they made picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice.
The International Festival “Apollo’s Muse” also is honored to present performances by some of the most inspiring and masterful artists, the true Muses of XXI century.
This innovative event blends the traditional with the modern in a sweeping two-part competition that provides a venue for artists in various ethnic communities to showcase their talents before a mainstream American audience.
The International Festival “Apollo’s Muse” is an ongoing process with a new competition cycle beginning approximately every six months. Applications are currently being accepted until September 30, 2011, for the first round which finishes in December 2011 with a Gala Ceremony in Las Vegas. Once that round is underway, applications will be accepted October 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012 for the new cycle. That contest will conclude in Hollywood during the summer of 2012. Please see: http://apollo.vpweb.com/
In each competition, up to 5000 artists will be given a chance in the spotlight. The most inspirational “Muse-like”
