Edgar Allan Poe and music
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The influence of Edgar Allan Poe on the art of music has been considerable and long-standing, with the works, life and image of the horror fiction writer and poet inspiring composers and musicians from diverse genres for more than a century.
[edit] Classical music
Leon Botstein, conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra--which presented a program of "Tales From Edgar Allan Poe" in 1999--noted that in the realm of classical music, as in literature, Poe's influence was felt more deeply in Europe than in America.
- From the mid-19th century on, Poe’s peculiar mix of the supernatural and symbolic fascinated French and Russian composers who experimented with literary narrative and poetic texts as the basis for musical structure. Their sense of affinity between Poe’s writings and music perhaps rests in the amorphous, abstract, yet psychologically powerful qualities of Poe’s dramatic illustrations, which seem to resemble the qualities of music itself. [1]
Claude Debussy often declared Poe's profound effect on his music (Poe Encyclopedia, 93), and began an opera based on "The Fall of the House of Usher"; though unfinished, a reconstructed version was performed at Yale University in 1977. Debussy also left an unfinished opera based on Poe's "The Devil in the Belfry".
Two members of Debussy's circle also wrote works inspired by Poe. Florent Schmitt wrote an etude, Le palais hante, derived from the Poe story "The Haunted Palace", in 1904. [2] Andre Caplet's Conte fantastique for harp and strings, published in 1924 but begun at least as early as 1909, is a musical retelling of "The Masque of the Red Death". [3]
Sergei Rachmaninoff, sent a Russian translation of "The Bells" by an admirer, transformed the poem in 1913 into a choral symphony that he regarded as his favorite of his works. [4]
The English composer Joseph Holbrooke composed a symphonic poem based on "The Raven" that debuted in 1900, followed in 1903 by a similar adaptation of "The Bells". Holbrooke also wrote a ballet score for "The Masque of the Red Death", among other Poe-inspired works.
Poe continues to be a source of ideas for contemporary classical works. Minimalist Philip Glass wrote an opera based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" that debuted in 1989. [5] Choral composer Jonathan Adams set three poems--"Hymn", "Evening Star", and "Eldorado"-- as Three Songs from Edgar Allan Poe for SATB chorus and piano in 1993. On the Last Frontier, Einojuhani Rautavaara's 1997 fantasia for chorus and orchestra, is based on the final paragraphs of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. [6]
Other operas based on stories by Poe are Ligeia, a 1994 opera by Augusta Read Thomas, and The Tell-Tale Heart by Bruce Adolphe.
[edit] Popular music
- The American folk and protest singer Phil Ochs set Poe's poem "The Bells" to music on his debut album, "All the News That's Fit to Sing", in 1964.
- Bob Dylan's 1965 song "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" makes reference to "Rue Morgue Avenue."
- When the Beatles compiled images of their heroes for the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of the most recognizable faces was that of Poe, in the center of the top row. The same year, the Beatles declared in their song "I Am the Walrus," "Man you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe." The British band's embrace of the romantic, melancholy Poe as one of their precursors foreshadowed the writer's impact on a wide range of popular musicians.
- In 1976, the British art rock group Alan Parsons Project released a full album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, based on Poe's stories and poems. Opening with an instrumental named for Poe's poem "A Dream Within a Dream", the album features songs based on "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" (which was a Top 40 hit) and "To One in Paradise", as well as a five-part rock symphony called "The Fall of the House of Usher". Producer and engineer Alan Parsons released a remixed version of the album in 1987, featuring narration by Orson Welles; executive producer Eric Woolfson revisited the concept in a 2003 stage musical [Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination]. [7]
- The American rock band the Smithereens released a song called "William Wilson", based on the Poe story of the same name, on their 1989 album 11.
- Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator released an operatic version of "The Fall of the House of Usher" in 1991. A remixed and re-recorded version was released in 1999.
- Lou Reed released a double CD concept album called The Raven in 2003 that featured a number of musical and spoken-word interpretations of Poe, with guest appearances from various actors, including Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe.
- Several heavy metal bands have made reference to Poe in their recordings. Iron Maiden recorded a song titled "Murders in the Rue Morgue" for their second album, 1981's Killers. Grave Digger's self-titled 2001 album includes 12 songs, all based on Poe's works. progressive/thrash metal band Nevermore takes its name from "The Raven".
- Pop singer Britney Spears named her 2001-2002 concert tour Dream Within a Dream, incorporating lines from that poem (and other Poe works) into her show.
- Other bands or musicians that have recorded songs inspired by Poe or using lyrics by Poe include Voltaire, Blues Traveler, Bright Eyes, Green Day (in the song "St. Jimmy"), Good Charlotte, Mr. Bungle, Crüxshadows, Cradle of Filth, Team Sleep, Utada Hikaru, Elysian Fields, The Smithereens, Symphony X, Tiger Army, Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows, Overlord, Insane Clown Posse (in the song "Ol' Evil Eye" from the album "The Riddle Box") and Antony and the Johnsons, who set Poe's "The Lake" to music.
- Finnish goth-metal singer Ville Valo of the band HIM frequently cites Poe's work as the inspiration for many of his lyrics, even sporting a tattoo of Poe's likeness on his back.
- Five Iron Frenzy's song That's How The Story End has several quotes from The Raven incorporated into it.
- Scarlet's Well's fifth album Black Tulip Wings features musical settings of "To One In Paradise" and "Evening Star".
- Marilyn Manson has been quoted saying that some of his inspiration for his music and art comes from Edgar Allan Poe's works, and has even painted a portriat of Poe.
