We're living during a global pandemic -- which can sometimes feel scary and frustrating. But we aren't the first people to live through a pandemic. Pandemics have happened before, and when they have, composers have created beautiful music in response to the challenging times. Today we're going to learn about some of those works of art. You'll learn... What a cantata is and which prolific composer of cantatas wrote one about a pandemic in France How Stravinsky repurposed a famous piece to make a little extra money when times were tough during a global pandemic About a funny opera commissioned during the 1918 flu pandemic Musical Samples You’ll Hear in this Episode: Cantata No. 25 (J.S. Bach) Stella Celi (Cooke) The Firebird Suite (Stravinsky) Two Pieces from The Love for Three Oranges (Prokofiev) Music Listening Schedule for Episode 27 I've created a YouTube playlist for you with ten performances connected to this episode's theme. Check it out here.