Category Archives: Literature
Sendak and Mozart
The beloved author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who died yesterday, was deeply influenced by Western classical music, particularly by the works of Mozart. “Art has always been my salvation,” he said in an interview, “and my gods are Herman Melville, … Continue reading
Filed under Classic era, Curiosities, Literature, Visual art
Sherlock Holmes, violist
A close reading of the canonical texts yields conclusive evidence that the celebrated sleuth was not a superb violinist—he was a superb violist. The mistake was likely perpetuated by an early printer’s error. After all, Watson was a doctor, which … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Humor, Instruments, Literature
Dickens and music
Charles Dickens’s works attest to a keen familiarity with the ballads and traditional songs of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Less obvious from his writings is his deep love of Western classical music—he adored the lieder of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, he championed … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Romantic era
Patti Smith and Rimbaud
Patti Smith’s direct assimilation of Arthur Rimbaud’s work into hers presents a case of cultural cross-fertilization in which the poetry of a foreign high-cultural figure enters into and influences a popular and countercultural discourse, illustrating how a nonacademic reading of … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Popular music, Reception
One finger too many
The classical music world knows Alfred Brendel as one of the foremost pianists of his time. Far fewer people know him as a poet, with two books of poetry in German and one—One finger too many—in English translation (New York: … Continue reading
Filed under Humor, Literature
Musica ragionata
Libreria Musicale Italiana launched the series Musica ragionata in 2009 with Musica poetica: Retorica e musica nel periodo della Riforma by Ferruccio Civra; the book explores Reformation treatises on rhetoric and on music, illuminating the connections between them. The series … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, New series, Renaissance, Theory
Macunaíma and brasilidade
In Macunaíma, o herói sem nenhum caráter (Macunaíma, the hero without character) by the Brazilian musicologist, ethnomusicologist, poet, and cultural activist Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), the title character leaves his home deep in the jungle for a mystical quest to … Continue reading
Musicology and fiction
Throughout the nineteenth century, parallels between the forms and contents of individual compositions and a variety of poems and prose tales were discussed. Liszt, Strauss, and other composers cited literary classics in the titles of their works and even published … Continue reading
Filed under Curiosities, Literature, Reception, Romantic era
Hans Christian Andersen, music critic
As many people know, Hans Christian Andersen, whose children’s stories have proven to be his most widespread source of fame, was the most prominent Danish author of the nineteenth century. As fewer people know, he enjoyed a brief career as … Continue reading
Filed under Literature, Reception, Romantic era
Iconoclastic romanticism
Although the pedagogue and author Wilhelm Heinrich von Riehl (1823–97) was not formally trained in music, he wrote extensively about the social significance of music making, and he argued for an approach that treated music history as cultural history. He … Continue reading
Filed under Ethnomusicology, Literature, Musicologists, Romantic era
