# Classical LITERATURE



## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

A while back, I thought of the topic "which (non-Scriptural*) literary masterpieces have proven to be most inspirational to Classical Music?" I thought of two which seem to lap the remainder of the field:

1) Goethe's *Faust*. It has given rise to Berlioz _Damnation of Faust_, Schumann's _Scenes from Goethe's Faust_, Liszt's _Faust Symphony_, Wagner's _A Faust Overture_, Gounod's opera _Faust_, Boito's opera _Mefistofele_, and the first part of Mahler's _Symphony #8_.

2) Shakespeare's *Romeo & Juliet*. In this column are Bellini's opera _I Capuletti e i Montecchi_, Berlioz' ballet- titled the same as the stage play, as well as Gounod's opera, Tchaikovsky's "fantasy-overture," and Prokofiev's ballet, all bearing the name _Romeo & Juliet_. [I guess I could test elasticity by including Bernstein's _Symphonic Dances from West Side Story_.]

Is there a third place? Beaumarchais tales give you the Mozart/Rossini Figaro operas. The "Orpheus" legend gives you Monteverdi, Gluck... and Offenbach. What does anyone else think?

* I'm not seeking to minimize the inspiration of the great religious texts. On the contrary, I think they're so significant that they should have their own category.


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2007)

Berlioz' _symphony,_ you mean.

Orpheus gives you a ballet by Stravinsky, too, and an early cantata by Berlioz.

I'd say probably the _Tempest_ would be a contender. Berlioz (again!) with the most substantial chunk of _Lelio,_ Nordheim with a ballet, Purcell with a sorta opera, Sibelius with incidental music, Tchaikovsky (again) with a tone poem (excuse me, "symphonic fantasy").

Greek and Roman myth gives quite a lot aside from Orpheus. And there's _The Aeneid,_ too.


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## Manuel (Feb 1, 2007)

some guy said:


> Greek and Roman myth gives quite a lot aside from Orpheus.


Like P. D. Q. Bach's _Oedipus Tex_?


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2007)

Always P.D.Q. Bach!

I've seen several of Schikele's live shows. The first time I heard one of his P.D.Q. Bach LPs, I was laughing so hard, I started hiccuping. Plus the tears.

Of joy.


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## LFcatface (Nov 21, 2007)

I thought I might mention the Massenet opera "Werther, based on Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther"(1774), which was one of the most important and influential novels of the Romantic era.

Tonight I saw a wonderful production presented by Helen Roy in London, Paul Featherstone, an amazing tenor who started out as an actor did a wonderful job of portraying the angst ridden poet, making the performance real theatre as well as a wonderful musical experience.

Werther might not be the most well known opera but anyone interested in both literature and music should find it interesting.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

some guy said:


> Orpheus gives you a ballet by Stravinsky, too, and an early cantata by Berlioz.


Nice add. That's  .


some guy said:


> I'd say probably the _Tempest_ would be a contender. Berlioz (again!) with the most substantial chunk of _Lelio,_ Nordheim with a ballet, Purcell with a sorta opera, Sibelius with incidental music, Tchaikovsky (again) with a tone poem (excuse me, "symphonic fantasy").


Thanks, some. That, too, is worth knowing. Some of that material could be construed "fringe repertory," but doubtless I opened the door for that by citing the Bellini opera.



some guy said:


> Greek and Roman myth gives quite a lot aside from Orpheus.


It seems that Orpheus remains the plurality result, though. If I'm wrong, well... that's what this thread is for!


LFcatface said:


> I thought I might mention "Werther", based on Goethe's "The sorrows of young Werther" (1774)


Glad you enjoyed it. Since I believe any excuse to talk about Goethe is a worthwhile endeavor, I'll add Mignon by Thomas (maybe we'll appeal to the "heart of Orion" to discuss this with us ). It must be added that the opera's fidelity to Goethe's _Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre_ is comparable to his fidelity to Shakespeare in Hamlet, his other prominent opera. I still think Mignon is great opera, nonetheless. I call it "proto-Wagnerian" in its use of variances in music style to underline the differences in the characters. Yeah... no WONDER I like it!


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## jsdealy (Nov 22, 2007)

You mean the second part of Mahler's 8th? The first part is from the medieval poem "Veni creator spiritus."


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

some guy said:


> I'd say probably the _Tempest_ would be a contender.


Certainly, as even Sibelus wrote incidental music to the Tempest. Not often performed as a concert suite, it does have a very powerful overture that rivals other "storm musics", I see it as a kind of harbinger of Britten's storm from the _4 Sea Interludes_ from _Peter Grimes_.


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## Ephemerid (Nov 30, 2007)

Speaking of Stravinsky's *Orpheus*, that reminds me also of:

*Persephone* (though Gide's text sort adds a peculiar altruistic quasi-christian angle on the myth-- Persephone decends into Hades because she feels deep pity for the wandering shades after looking into the narcissus flower-- she is not kidnapped)

*Oedipus Rex* (Cocteau's text)

There are a few other "Greek-inspired" works like the lovely *Apollon Musagetes *("Apollo, Leader of the Muses") that isn't plot based but draws from its mythology.

Also *A Soldier's Tale *is certainly very Faustian.

In addition, there is the unfortunately obscure *Socrate *by Erik Satie. I'm surprised Socrates has not been the subject of more dramatic works.

Samuel Barber did a ballet on *Medea*-- I haven't heard the entire piece, but one extraction, "Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance" is terrifying and captures the scenario perfectly.

Though no one really reads Materlinck anymore, his play *Pelleas et Melisande *has been the inspiration for Debussy's opera (which I adore), some incidental music for the play by Faure, and also Schoenberg. I believe there are others as well, but I can't recall now...

Oh, and almost forgot Ravel's ballet, *Daphnis et Chloe*!

~josh


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

fool on the hill said:


> Though no one really reads Materlinck anymore, his play *Pelleas et Melisande *has been the inspiration for Debussy's opera (which I adore), some incidental music for the play by Faure, and also Schoenberg. I believe there are others as well, but I can't recall now...


Again, Sibelius. BONG.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

In addition to Verdi's late-period opera *Otello*, I was recently re-acquainted with Dvořák's *Othello* _overture_, which came into my awareness owing to a discussion in another thread.

Originally it was the final piece of Dvořák's "Triple Overture" (Nature/Life/Love), of which the central component (retitled the "Carnival Overture") is the most famous. So (returning to the topic) this appears to be a case of literary "retro-fitting." It's a great example of how a seemingly unrelated TalkClassical discussion can lead to a nice discovery (or, in this case, re-discovery).


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I seem to remember Des Knaben Wunderhorn being a source of inspiration for not only Mahler but Brahms as well? I'm pretty sure it was a hit amongst composers of the late Romantic era, at least to some degree...

Now really, the Kalevala inspired a lot of composers... Sibelius, Kajanus, several others I can't bring to mind. It's a real goldmine, that text.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Russian! of course!

Gogol: May night (Rimsky-Korsakov), Christmas eve (Rimsky-Korasakov, same title; Tchaikovsky, Tcherevichki), Shostakovich (the nose), the Market of Sorotchinsky (Mussorgsky)

Pushkin : Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky); Eugene Oneguin (Tchaikovsky), the queen of spades (Tchaikovsky), Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky), Feast in Time of Plague (Cesar Cui)

Tolstoi: War and peace (Prokofiev)


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## Ralfy (Jul 19, 2010)

Don't forget Dante.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

*The Good Knight*

Cervantes' Don Quixote, sometimes in rather modified form (Massenet) has gotten some play. Seems like the basic storyline has figured in several other operas, but not being an operaphile I can't specify.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Cervantes' Don Quixote, sometimes in rather modified form (Massenet) has gotten some play. Seems like the basic storyline has figured in several other operas, but not being an operaphile I can't specify.


It appears in works by Ravel (song cycle) and De Falla (half-opera)


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## Aksel (Dec 3, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> In addition to Verdi's late-period opera *Otello*, I was recently re-acquainted with Dvořák's *Othello* _overture_, which came into my awareness owing to a discussion in another thread.


Don't forget Rossini's Otello. Although it is to be said that it deviates some from the original plot, it's still based on Shakespeare.
And speaking of Shakespeare, there are at least four adaptations of The Merry Wives of Windsor that I can think of at the top of my head: Salieri's Falstaff, Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Verdi's Falstaff (this one even includes some of Henry V!) and Vaughan-Williams' Sir John in Love.

And don't forget Peri's Euridice when speaking about Orpheus.



Hilltroll72 said:


> Cervantes' Don Quixote, sometimes in rather modified form (Massenet) has gotten some play. Seems like the basic storyline has figured in several other operas, but not being an operaphile I can't specify.


Ludwig Minkus also wrote a ballet based on Don Quixote.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

Manon Lescault (Puccini) - Abbé Provost.
Werther (Massenet) - Goethe
Dr. Faust (Schnittke) - not Goethe, before him.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

I found this on French Wikipedia:

Opéras:

1776 : Julie und Romeo, Georg Anton Benda
1776 : Romeo e Giulia, Johann Gottfried Schwanenberger
1789 : Giulietta e Romeo, Luigi Marescalchi
1790 : Romeo und Juliet, Sigismund von Rumling
1792 : Roméo et Juliette, Nicolas Dalayrac
1793 : Roméo et Juliette, Daniel Steibelt
1796 : Giulietta e Romeo, Nicola Antonio Zingarelli
1809 : Roméo et Juliette, Bernardo Porta
1810 : Romeo e Giulietta, Pietro Carlo Guglielmi
1825 : Giulietta e Romeo, Nicola Vaccai
1828 : Giulietta e Romeo, Eugenio Torriani
1830 : I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Vincenzo Bellini
1863 : Romeo und Julie, Anton Storch
1863 : Romeo y Julieta, Melesio Morales
1865 : Romeo e Giulietta, Filippo Marchetti
1867 : Roméo et Juliette, Charles Gounod
1873 : Romeo y Julieta, Garcia Mercadal
1878 : Roméo et Juliette, Richard d'Ivry
1901 : Romeo and Juliet, Harry Rowe Shelley
1907 : A Village Romeo and Juliet, Frederick Delius
1922 : Romeo y Julieta, Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta
1922 : Giulietta e Romeo, Riccardo Zandonai
1940 : Romeo und Julia, Heinrich Sutermeister
1947 : Romeo und Julia, Boris Blacher
1950 : épisode from Mondi celesti e infernali, Gian Francesco Malipiero
1954 : Romeo i Julija, Krešimir Fribec
1955 : Romé et Juliette, Edmond Gaujac
1962 : Romeo, Julie a tma, Jacobo Ficher
1970 : Julia i Romeo, Bernadetta Matuszczak
1988 : Roméo et Juliette, Pascal Dusapin

Music other than operas:

1839 : Roméo et Juliette, symphonie dramatique, Hector Berlioz
1869 : Romeo and Juliet, ouverture, Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovski
1935 : Romeo and Juliet, ballet, Sergueï Prokofiev
1954 : Incidental music to "Romeo and Julia," Boris Lyatoshinsky
1957 : West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

*... and here's the one for Faust:*

_Opéras_

* Harlequin Faustus, pantomime créée à Londres vers 1715 ;
* The Necromancer, or Harlequin Dr. Faustus, pantomime de John Ernest Gaillard (Londres, 1732) ;
* Dr. Fausts Zaubergurtel de Phanty (Vienne, 1790) ;
* Harlequin and Faustus de Samuel Arnold (Londres, 1793) ;
* Faustus de C. Hanke, (Flushing, 1794) ;
* Doktor Faust de Ignatz Walter (Hanovre, 1797) ;
* Fausts Leben und Thaten de Josef Strauss (1815) ;
* Goethe's Faust d'Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (Berlin, 1815- la première partie, Berlin, 1835- l'œuvre entière)
* Fausts Leben, Thaten und Hollenfahrt de Johann Georg Lickl (Vienne, 1815) ;
* Faust opéra en deux actes de Louis Spohr, en langue allemande d'après Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (Prague, 1816) ;
* Faust de Wenzel Miiller (Vienne, 1818) ;
* Faustus de Bishop (Vienne, 1827) ;
* Faust de Beaucourt (Vienne, 1827) ;
* Huit scènes de Faust de Hector Berlioz (Paris, 1829). Réutilisées en 1846 dans La Damnation de Faust ;
* Fausto de Louise-Angélique Bertin (Paris, 1831) ;
* Faust de Lindpaintner d'après Goethe (Stuttgart, 1832) ;
* Faust de Pellaert (Bruxelles, 1834) ;
* Faust de Rietz d'après Goethe (Düsseldorf, 1834) ;
* Fausto de Gordigiano (Florence, 1837) ;
* II Fausto Arrivo de Raimondi (Naples, 1837) ;
* Robert le diable, grand opéra en 5 actes de Giacomo Meyerbeer (Paris, 1839) ;
* Faust et Marguerite de Henri Cohen (1846) ;
* La Damnation de Faust, légende lyrique de Hector Berlioz (Paris, 1846) ;
* Scenen aus Goethes Faust (Scènes d'après le « Faust » de Goethe), Robert Schumann (Leipzig, 1849) ;
* Faust, grand opéra romantique en 3 actes de Louis Spohr (2e version, en langue italienne, 1852) ;
* Faust and Marguerite de Wilhelm Meyer-Lutz (Londres, 1855) ;
* Faust, opéra de Charles Gounod, livret de Michel Carré et Jules Barbier, créé le 19 mars 1859 au Théâtre-Lyrique (Paris) ;
* Mefistofele, opéra en un prologue et 4 actes de Arrigo Boito (La Scala, Milan, 1868) ;
* Le Petit Faust, opéra-bouffe en 3 actes d'Hervé (Paris, 1869) ;
* Faust de Heinrich Zollner (Munich, 1887) ;
* Faust et Hélène, cantate cantate pour mezzo-soprano, ténor, baryton, chœur et orchestre de Lili Boulanger (Paris, 1913)
* L'Histoire du soldat d'Igor Stravinski (Lausanne, 1918) ;
* Faust en ménage, fantaisie lyrique en un acte de Claude Terrasse, livret de Albert Carré (Paris, 1924) ;
* Doktor Faust, opéra en 6 tableaux de Ferruccio Busoni, livret du compositeur d'après Spies (Dresde, 1925);
* Votre Faust, fantaisie variable genre opéra de Henri Pousseur en collaboration avec Michel Butor (Piccola Scala de Milan, 1969)
* Historia von D. Johann Fausten, op. 239, opéra en 3 actes et un épilogue d'Alfred Schnittke, livret de Joerg Morgener (Jurjen Koechel) d'après Johannes Spies (Hambourg, 1995). Réutilise la cantate Seid Nüchtern und Wachet, op.167, créée en 1983 ;
* Jazz n'Faust, opéra pour choeur (à voix égales ou 3 voix mixtes), solistes et trio jazz, livret adapté librement du roman de Goethe par Frédéric Smektala Musique originale et arrangements de Pierre-Gérard VERNY (2002) ;
* Alma Sola, opéra numérique en forme ouverte d'Alain Bonardi, livret de Christine Zeppenfeld (Issy-les-Moulineaux, 2005) ;
* Faustus, the Last Night, opéra en une nuit et 11 numéros de Pascal Dusapin d'après Marlowe (Staatsoper de Berlin, 2006) ;
* Faust, opéra de Philippe Fénelon, livret de Nikolaus Lenau (Capitole de Toulouse, 2007).

_Musique symphonique_

* Faust-Symphonie de Franz Liszt ;
* Fantaisie sur le thème de Faust ou Faust-Fantaisie pour violon et accompagnement d' orchestre ou de piano de Henryk Wieniawski ;
* Huitième Symphonie de Gustav Mahler ;
* La damnation de Faust de Berlioz
* Aus Goethes Faust de Julius Röntgen
* L'histoire du soldat d'Igor Stravinski
* Scènes de Faust de Robert Schumann

_Musique pour le piano_

* Mephisto-Valse de Franz Liszt ;

*And more from English Wikipedia...*

_Operas:_

* Sergei Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel (1927; first performed 1954)
* Konrad Boehmer's Doktor Faustus (1983), libretto by Hugo Claus
* John Coolidge Adams' Doctor Atomic (2005)
* Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951)
* Stuart Borill's Drama Souled (2009)
* Contemporary American composer Evan Bushman's one act Marionette Opera The Damnation of Faust, Op. 85 (2009)

_Music other than operas:_

* Pablo de Sarasate's "Faust Fantasy"
* Alexander Lokshin's "Three Scenes from Goethe's Faust" (for Soprano and orchestra) (1980)
* Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 75 no 3 (1809) Song - Aus Goethes Faust: "Es war einmal ein König"
* Franz Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade (1814)
* Richard Wagner's Faust Overture (1840)
* Modest Mussorgsky: "Mephistopheles' song of the flea" (1879), is just that: a version of the song that Mephistopheles sings in the tavern scene of Goethe's Faust, pt. 1.
* Alfred Schnittke's Faust Cantata (1982-83)
* Lili Boulanger's Faust et Helene (1913)
* Charles-Valentin Alkan's Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges' (Op.33) 2nd Movement "Quasi-Faust" (1847)


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Well the most obvious literary source of inspiration would have to be the Bible. Another source overlooked so far would be the poems of the great French Symbolists (Gautier, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarme, etc...) whose works were set to songs by Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Duparc, Koechlin, and the other great French composers of the era.


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