Tag: #classical music

Music

Stock Characters You Can Hear in Classical Music

Aubrey Leaman

butler stock character

“In the old times, when it was still of some use to wish for the thing one wanted, there lived a king whose daughters were all handsome, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun himself, who has seen so much, wondered at her beauty each time he shone over her.”

-The Frog Prince

In many stories, there are stock characters: the evil stepmother, the beautiful queen, the creepy vampire, the clever detective (and of course, the butler did it!) … There may always be variations, and characters may not always be explicitly transparent as stock characters, but they’re Continue reading “Stock Characters You Can Hear in Classical Music” →

Classical Music Stories

A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music

Aubrey Leaman

Jane Eyre book music

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

Classical Music Stories: The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Debussy

Aubrey Leaman

Castle 1.jpg

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!

As Halloween approaches it’s only appropriate that we look at some music and stories with otherworldly intrigue… Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Debussy” →

Classical Music Stories

Classical Music Stories: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and a Piano Piece

Aubrey Leaman

vintage-1794705_1280

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” →

Music

Suspense in Classical Music (and Books!)

Aubrey Leaman

suspense books and music

“But Mr. Tate said, “This court will come to order,” in a voice that rang with authority, and the heads below us jerked up. Mr. Tate left the room and returned with Tom Robinson. He steered Tom to his place beside Atticus, and stood there. Judge Taylor had roused himself to sudden alertness and was sitting up straight, looking at the empty jury box.”

-To Kill a Mockingbird

Suspense is obviously in horror stories (“No! Don’t open that door!!!”) but it’s also all over the other books we read whenever we find ourselves holding our breath to Continue reading “Suspense in Classical Music (and Books!)” →

Books, Classical Music Stories

Classical Music Stories: A Tale of Two Cities and a Mozart Symphony

Aubrey Leaman

034935.jpg

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” →

Books, Music

The Irony of Portraying “Stillness” in Books (and Classical Music)

Aubrey Leaman
Monet Esquisse d'ensemble.jpg
“Woman with a Parasol” by Monet, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington

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)” →

Classical Music Stories

Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina and a Bach Cello Suite

Aubrey Leaman

tuscany-428041_1920.jpg

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” →

Books, Music

If Authors Told You How to Read Their Books…As Inspired by Music

Aubrey Leaman

Apples authors orders.jpg

I read an article about a piece of music the other day where each section started with a direction, like “to be whispered like an incantation.” Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, it took me a while to figure out what these directions actually were. Continue reading “If Authors Told You How to Read Their Books…As Inspired by Music” →

Books, Music

Hyperbole in Literature…and Classical Music!

Aubrey Leaman

vintage-1794718_1920.jpg

“The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting `Off with his head!’ or `Off with her head!’ about once in a minute.” —Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 A man wearing a top hat in a crowded Continue reading “Hyperbole in Literature…and Classical Music!” →