# World Book Day



## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Today is World Book Day, so, what is your favourite piece of music that was inspired by a book?

Somewhat obviously, mine is _les Troyens_ by Berlioz - inspired by Virgil's _Aeneid_

I could have nominated the same composer's _Benvenuto Cellini_ or _La Damnation de Faust_

what about you?


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I've only just started Celllini's autobiography, so I'll have to get back to you. For all its bloviating, Strauss's Zarathustra is still pretty good. So are Mahler's and Schumann's scenes from Faust.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

PS: I also have a fondness for Frank Martin's Tempest.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Let's see... Wagner's Parsifal based off the epic poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Morton Feldman's opera Neither based off the libretto/poem penned by Samuel Beckett is another fine example.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Many Faust(s).
Possibly my fav is Schumann's _Scenes from Goethe's Faust_


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

GioCar said:


> Many Faust(s).
> Possibly my fav is Schumann's _Scenes from Goethe's Faust_


Or Lizst's A Faust Symphony.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Couple of works that came from short stories:

Britten's "The Turn of the Screw" (Henry James)
Janacek's String quartet no.1, "The Kreutzer Sonata" (Tolstoy)


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## Perotin (May 29, 2012)

Being an intellectual snob, I picked Berio's Ommagio a Joyce. One of Joyce's most famous statements: "I have put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality." Such a humble and modest man!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Books!!! Ah, yes! I Googled the term. They were in use before the Kindle. I used them in High School! Yes!!!


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

*Works based on books*

That's actually kind of tough. A few works come to mind, but I'd have a difficult time sifting through all the works based on books to find my favorite. But what comes to mind immediately is:

*Scheherazade *- both by Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel based on the Thousand Nights and One Night

Orff's *Carmina Burana *- based on collections of poems from the 13th century (Maybe not quite a book?)

Tchaikovsky's *Francesca da Rimini *- based on Dante's Divine Comedy

Strauss's *Salome *- based on a story in the Bible

Sibelius's *Tempest *- based on one of Shakespeare's plays

Shostakovich - *Symphony No. 14 *based on poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko (which would have been published in a book at one time or another)

The *Genesis Suite *by Schonberg, Shilkret, Tansman, Milhaud, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Toch and Stravinsky based on Genesis

Koechlin - *Les Bandar-Log *based on Kipling's The Jungle Book

Sallinen - *The Nocturnal Dances of Don J**uanquixote *(or Chamber Music III, Op. 58) based on Cervantes's Don Quixote

Ned Rorem's *The Book of Hours *(kind of loosely based on a book, though not a specific one)

Perhaps my favorite of those listed above would be Michael Colgrass's *The Winds of Nagual *which was inspired by the series of books by Carlos Castaneda

One could conceivably include many masses and requiems, being based on Biblical texts. And of course some operas have already been mentioned, though many are based on literary works.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

^^^ I wasn't suggesting an encyclopaedic list of works inspired by books ... I was hoping to gve an opportunity for TCers to mention a favourite work inspired by a book - sigh!


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Phillip Glass's soundtrack to The Hours based on the Michael Cunningham novel


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I don't know many book inspired works :/

My personal favorite [that I'm aware of], Liszt's Vallee d'Obermann, inspired by Senancour's novel of the same name. It's about a guy in Switzerland "overwhelmed by nature". Probably a boring read.

But it makes for beautiful music:


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)




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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire is based off a series of poems by Albert Giraud (another Albert yes I know...).


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