MUSICA IN DEPTH
Musica features nine dancing figures in a circular composition roughly forty 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 1000floating above the others. Each figure is fourteen to fifteen feet, or more than twice life-size.
The dancers and part of the base are 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’.”
“Alan LeQuire has managed to win and successfully complete two of the most ambitious public art commissions ever conceived… Few contemporary sculptors have tackled projects of such massive scale and technical complexity.” —M. Stephen Doherty, Editor-in-Chief American Artist, April 2004
