“Bourrée” from Partita #1 in B Minor, BMV 1002 for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1759)

Many believe that in the beginning there was Bach, a German composer whose music was the foundation of all subsequent music. The violin was a beloved instrument of both Bach and Scott Gentling, and the broken chords of the bourrée dance rhythm quickly engage the listener.

Of his own musical engagement, Scott commented, “[Music] was my first interest as a child—long before I was even affected by painting of any kind.” He began studying the violin in elementary school, played in a Baroque community orchestra during art school, and later honed his technique through private lessons with Curt Thompson, former Professor of Violin at Texas Christian University. Scott's journal documents an epiphany as he optimized his violin sound through adjusted finger pressure on the strings. Scott’s compositional efforts for the violin culminated in six full sonatas. In his watercolor painting, Amadeus, one of his two 18th-century violins rests on sheet music with a barely decipherable “Sonata No. 3” and “Scott G.”

The Harmonious Blacksmith by George Frederic Handel (1685–1759)

Handel, a German born the same year as Bach, supposedly composed this piece under a specific circumstance. Though some musicologists scoff at the story, Handel once took shelter from the rain in a countryside town where he heard a blacksmith’s repeated hammer on an anvil. This became the beat of this composition, while the calm melody (the blacksmith’s singing) transformed into virtuosic variations.

Scott Gentling ‘s musical passions included his own harpsichord, assembled from a kit and featured in the exhibition. He probably practiced on it methodically in the spirit of these variations that progress from the simple to the ornate.

“Allegro Molto” from Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

A prolific Austrian composer, Haydn is well known for this sunny, forward-moving cello movement. The Gentling brothers must have been familiar with the interpretation of Jacqueline Du Pré, a top cellist of their generation.

While the exhibition doesn't include a rendering of the cello, the cello owned by the Gentlings’ father features prominently in paintings held in private collections. Allen Gentling, the Head of Anesthesiology at Harris Methodist Hospital, seems to have loaned his instrument to his sons indefinitely.

“Andantino” from Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Mozart, also Austrian, lived only 35 years, but he packed an amazing output into every musical genre. While he is known for his sprightly compositions, he also achieved singular lyrical moments, reflected in the movement’s melodic flute and arpeggiated harp.

This music creates a celestial mood for the Gentling brothers’ [Central dome: large painting of complete dome] of Bass Performance Hall, and specifically the [Central dome: small eagle studies] by Stuart Gentling that details it. Eagles stay aloft through soaring rather than flapping, much as the flute’s melodic line rises above the harp and orchestra. However, smaller descending melodic lines contour that soaring line, just as the gently curved feathers in Scott’s Watercolor study of White wings design for the Bass Hall ceiling create a soft three-dimensionality rather than a flat plane.

“Allegro con brio” from Piano Sonata 21 in C, Op. 53, “Waldstein” by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Beethoven, yet another German, is at the junction of the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic era. An unprecedented innovator, he channeled his intensity and later struggle with deafness into an updated keyboard, the pianoforte. Its touch sensitivity broadened the dynamic range (forte and piano, loud and soft) in Beethoven’s compositions.

On this recording of the seldom heard fortepiano, the "Waldstein” has both a joyful and tempestuous energy in its recurring patterns. Scott once said, “It is the ideas that come across in the pattern of the music that give me sometimes a new idea, a way of thinking and looking, about the intensity of colors in music. It’s very similar to the intensity of colors in painting.”

Though original fortepianos are rare, we can imagine Scott tinkering with one, seeking new patterns and ideas to enlighten himself in the multitude of musical dimensions that enriched his art.

Classically Trained: The Gentlings and Music is on view at the Carter through July 13, 2025.