At least, so says Rosina, the heroine from Rossini‘s opera, The Barber of Seville.

In Rosina’s well loved solo, she presents herself as coy and sweet, but wickedly clever. She sings “A thousand tricks I play until I have my way; be on your guard.” Then, working with her lover, she proceeds to make an idiot out of a cruel, elderly suitor. Don’t let the gorgeous bel canto singing fool you – and definitely don’t play games with this woman!

One of the challenges of being a composer is finding that sweet spot where good music lies. If your style is too conservative, audiences will be bored – they’ve heard this before. If you writing is too progressive, audiences will put off – they don’t understand it. There’s also an argument that there is a finite number of melodies that can be composed, and what does one do when they’re all used up?

Sometimes, the best stuff is the simplest stuff. The main theme to the second movement of Dvořák‘s New World Symphony is so simple that it might as well be a nursery rhyme or a preschool song. But it continues to stir the souls who hear it, over a century after it was composed. It’s a bit to the right of the sweet spot, but boy is it sweet.

Sweet.

Loud sounds elicit an emotional response. It’s one of the reasons rock concerts are so exciting, and elevator music is so boring. So how did people rock out before 500-watt speakers were invented?

That’s how. Thanks, Tchaikovsky!