About Michael De Sapio

Michael De Sapio is Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative. A writer and classical musician from Alexandria, Virginia, he attended The Catholic University of America and The Peabody Conservatory of Music. He writes Great Books study guides for the educational online resource SuperSummary, and his essays on religious and aesthetic topics have been featured in Fanfare and Touchstone, among other publications.

Tomaso Albinoni: The Quiet Master of Italian Baroque Music

By |2024-02-22T20:12:37-06:00February 22nd, 2024|Categories: Audio/Video, Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors|

Elegance, stability, and order—as well as a sense of pure, elemental joy—are the qualities I hear in Tomaso Albinoni’s music. It is music of Venice through and through, where in the meltingly beautiful slow movements you can all but see the morning light playing on the water of the lagoon, or feel the quiet awe [...]

Dieterich Buxtehude, Music, & the Experience of Life

By |2024-02-06T17:27:48-06:00February 5th, 2024|Categories: Audio/Video, Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors|

Dieterich Buxtehude might seem at first glance an interesting minor figure, the “man who influenced Bach.” But consider: If he was a decisive inspiration to Bach, that means that Buxtehude can lay claim to being the immediate progenitor of the mainstream classical music tradition we all enjoy. Prelude Our experience of classical music has become [...]

“Maestro” and the Misuse of Culture

By |2024-01-02T15:14:28-06:00January 1st, 2024|Categories: Film, Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors|

The film "Maestro" is certainly well-made and well-acted, with Bradley Cooper (who also directed) carrying off a spot-on impersonation of Leonard Bernstein. But at its core is an emptiness that no mere artifice can fill. Writers for the movies, I have found, don’t seem to know how to deal with the arts as a dramatic [...]

“The Miracle of the Bells”: A Forgotten Novel & Film

By |2023-12-28T16:48:50-06:00December 28th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christmas, Film, Timeless Essays|

The Miracle of the Bells doesn’t claim to be great literature, but it is a richly-drawn story about faith and Hollywood, a time capsule of a bygone era that retains its inspirational charm. The Miracle of the Bells by Russell Janney (510 pages, Forgotten Books, 1946) Back in 1947 it was possible for a Catholic novel to [...]

Leroy Anderson: Musical Genius in Miniature

By |2023-12-19T09:05:24-06:00December 18th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Christmas, Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors|

What would the Christmas season be without Sleigh Ride, the beloved orchestral chestnut by Leroy Anderson? It’s one of those festive selections endlessly piped into our ears on radio, television, and in every public marketplace, to the point of becoming a sort of seasonal wallpaper—something taken for granted. But if Sleigh Ride is a tune [...]

Beethoven’s Apollonian Beauty

By |2023-12-16T15:34:06-06:00December 15th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Beethoven 250, Ludwig van Beethoven, Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

We think of Beethoven as the stormy rebel, the musical Zeus hurling his thunderbolts. But there exists also Beethoven's Apollonian side. His music can indeed be so elegant, so meltingly tender or nostalgic. So much of what Beethoven composed projects a pastoral peace and contentment, evoking the walks in the country he so enjoyed. Musical [...]

Music for Contemplation

By |2023-12-01T21:55:15-06:00December 1st, 2023|Categories: Michael De Sapio, Music, Senior Contributors|

The music of the Western classical tradition is known for its dynamism, drama, and rhythmic and intellectual energy. While I value these qualities as much as anybody, more and more these days I find myself gravitating toward music that is contemplative and serene rather than active and developmental—music that makes us content being where we [...]

Theories of Thankfulness

By |2023-11-22T11:35:29-06:00November 22nd, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, Michael De Sapio, Senior Contributors, Thanksgiving|

Gratitude—both gratitude to the human persons around us and the ultimate gratitude toward the personal God—brings to us a sense of order and peace, a grounding in truth that sets us free. Gratitude, by Dietrich von Hildebrand, Balduin V. Schwarz, Joseph Ratzinger, and Romano Guardini (135 pages, Hildebrand Project, 2023) The great spiritual teachers tell [...]

The Joys of a Reflective Life

By |2023-11-22T11:40:59-06:00November 6th, 2023|Categories: Culture, Michael De Sapio, Senior Contributors, The Imaginative Conservative, Writing|

The essayist’s head is always in the clouds, his feet are never on the ground. What keeps me going is cultivating an inner joy. A sort of contemplative trance is for me the most blessed state in which to find oneself. Sometimes it even leads to prayer, the highest form of reflection and communion. As [...]

The Arts as Sources of Epiphany

By |2023-10-17T17:28:33-05:00October 17th, 2023|Categories: Art, Beauty, Michael De Sapio, Senior Contributors|

Art achieves a kind of double reflection. It returns thanks to God, using his creation to fashion something new; at the same time, it reflects the glory and order of creation back to man, providing moments of epiphany. Art when properly made restores a proper awe before creation; although manmade, it directs our gaze back [...]

The High Dignity of Beauty

By |2023-10-12T17:55:36-05:00October 12th, 2023|Categories: Beauty, Timeless Essays|

Beauty exists as an experience in its own right, to be enjoyed for its own sake, and in no way inferior to other values. Let’s therefore celebrate it, extol it, and accord it its due dignity. Those who hold classical philosophical views—such as we imaginative conservatives—consider it an indisputable proposition that beauty is the goal [...]

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