“Que Sera” Bibliography

Tomorrow, the song I arranged and recorded will be available wherever you listen to music. The song is “Que Sera,” written in 1956 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

I think that all art is imitation, but most of the time we are simply unaware of it. When I arranged this song, I traced inspiration from 3 pieces/songs particularly:

Shostakovich’s Quartet no. 8 movement 3 There is a lot of speculation about this piece written in 1960, most famously how Shostakovich intended it as a suicide note. (though, fortunately he did not follow through with this intention.) In the score, a dedication written by Shostakovich, “to the victims of fascism and war.”

Sibelius: Finlandia, more specifically the hymn that occurs in this. Written in 1890 it served as a protest of Russian censorship.

Blackbird, The Beatles I love the chord progression in this and the general feeling. McCartney later said that he wrote in support of the civil rights movement. (not to be too didactic here, but I love how The Beatles also borrowed some ideas from Bach.)

If you listen to my cover of “Que Sera” you may or may not be able to directly hear the influences, but I think you’ll at least be able to feel them. You can pre-save it, here.



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