This 1653 engraving by Rembrandt inspired composer Frank Martin to write his oratorio Golgotha in 1945. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

The late American mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens in her signature role as Carmen. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera hide caption

Mahler's ironic funeral march, in his first symphony, was inspired by this woodcut of forest animals bearing the hunter to his grave. wikimedia commons hide caption

Lisa Batiashvili plays the Stradivarius used to help birth Brahms' great Violin Concerto in D. Anja Frers/DG hide caption

For his zany opera The Love for Three Oranges, Prokofiev wrote a little march that made it big. Alexey Stiop/iStockphoto.com hide caption

In an age when we are hearing more music than ever, are opera and ballet elitist? Carolina K. Smith/iStockphoto.com hide caption

Verdi's opera Aida, set in the time of the Pharaohs, is known for its extravagance, yet its "Triumphal March" is surprisingly simple. iStockphoto.com hide caption

Simone Dinnerstein (left) and Tift Merritt's new album, Night, comes out March 19. Lisa-Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

In Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, he imagines his own march to the guillotine. Rischgitz/Getty Images hide caption

Charles Gounod's quirky march about marionettes found new life as the theme music to Alfred Hitchcock's suspense show on TV. iStockphoto.com hide caption

Van Cliburn in concert in 1993. Ron Jenkins hide caption

Pope Benedict XVI addresses the audience at Milan's La Scala opera house where he heard a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Daniel Dal Zennaro/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves court in Paris Tuesday after attending a hearing regarding his seizure request for a new book by Argentinian-born Marcela Iacub detailing their liason. Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images hide caption