Imagining books and music in quirky and creative ways
As Christmas approaches, I’ve found myself wondering: what holiday might certain beloved literary characters enjoy over all others?
1) Lydia & Kitty Bennett: Easter Continue reading “If Literary Characters Had Favorite Holidays”
This week I started rereading one of my all-time favorite books, Wuthering Heights. It seemed only natural then to share another classical music story inspired by this novel, paired with an equally mystical (and equally loved) piano piece!
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story (albeit an abstract one), imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!
Liszt-Paganini Etude in G#-minor (La Campanella)
Composed by Franz Liszt Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Wuthering Heights”
A large part of this blog is imagining books and characters in different pieces of classical music. But for any one Classical Music Story there are so many others that could be imagined within the music, even using the same book or characters!
And so Classical Music Stories: Choose Your Own Adventure Remix was born.
How it works: each segment of this approximately 4-minute piece of music is imagined to relate to a different part of the story (in this case, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre). Start reading at the very beginning (0:00) and on until the first juncture where you can choose what Rochester does next. Then it’s as simple as continuing to make choices and following the story and music until the end! You can either listen to the music while reading, pause the music in between sections when you have to make a decision, or listen to the music first all the way through and follow the story in a second listen-through. The choice (once again) is yours!
Enjoy! Continue reading “A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music”
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story (albeit an abstract one), imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!
In this short, 20th century piano piece by Ligeti (Etude No. 8 “Fem” from the second book of etudes) I imagined the Mad Hatter’s and the March Hare’s perpetual tea party, i.e. their punishment by Time: Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and a Piano Piece”
“Chemistry” off of Arcade Fire’s latest album “Everything Now” is a) super catchy and b) intriguingly similar to both the phantom from Phantom of the Opera and Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: Arcade Fire and The Phantom of the Opera”
They’re both super nosy, after all.
Mrs. Bennett has the benefit of experience. Since she’s older she’s been gossiping for a lot longer than Emma has…with disastrous consequences of course, but it could be a plus for her in this game. Emma, however, strikes Continue reading “Who Would Win a Game of Telephone: Mrs. Bennett or Emma Woodhouse?”
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story (albeit an abstract one), imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!
Like the last Classical Music Stories post on Anna Karenina and a Bach Cello Suite, you’ll probably recognize the opening of this one. I liked Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor K. 550 before (sometimes I really wish classical music had better titles), but once I started considering the similarities between it and A Tale of Two Cities the music Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: A Tale of Two Cities and a Mozart Symphony”
Portraying stillness or inactivity is a pretty bizarre paradox in books and music when you stop to think about it because the only way to show stillness is to have movement! After all, what options do authors have of showing that a character is still? They Continue reading “The Irony of Portraying “Stillness” in Books (and Classical Music)”
Have you ever thought about the strangeness of the words “once upon a time?”
I recently finished reading Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” and it was amazing. If Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Use of “Once Upon a Time””
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books.
You’ve almost definitely heard the opening of this piece before in commercials or something. But it’s honestly one of my favorites! The peacefulness and expansiveness of Bach on cello seems to open doors into a new world you can explore, one Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina and a Bach Cello Suite”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders 