Edgar Allan Poe and music

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Edgar Allan Poe Portal

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.

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[edit] Classical music

Claude Debussy wrote an unfinished opera based on "The Fall of the House of Usher."
Claude Debussy wrote an unfinished opera based on "The Fall of the House of Usher."

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[2], 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. A recording of it was released in 1984. 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 poem "The Haunted Palace", in 1904.[3] 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".[4]

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.

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.[5]

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.[6] 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 as well as "Annabel Lee" in 1995. 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.[7]

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."
  • Poe's final poem "Annabel Lee" was set to music by composer Don Dilworth, and was recorded by Joan Baez as part of her 1967 album Joan, as well as by Spanish pop band Radio Futura.
  • 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, 1967, 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]. [1].
    Also, in their 1980 album The Turn of a Friendly Card, there is an instrumental song called "The Gold Bug".
  • 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.
  • Tool featured the lyrics "seems like I'm slipping into a dream within a dream" in the song "Sweat" on their 1992 album Opiate.
  • Cuban musician Silvio Rodriguez has several songs on Poe, including "Trova de Edgardo" (1992), on the album Silvio.
  • Avant-garde Metal band Arcturus have a song on the album La Masquerade Infernale (1997) called "Alone" incorporating the full, unaltered text of Poe's poem "Alone".
  • The band Odes Of Ecstasy on their second album Deceitful Melody (2000) incorporates the full text of "The Conqueror Worm" under the title of "Abstract Thoughts."
  • 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.
  • Five Iron Frenzy's song "That's How The Story Ends" has several quotes from "The Raven" incorporated into it. It was released on their album The End Is Near (2003).
  • He was mentioned in the song "St. Jimmy" by Green Day on the album American Idiot (2003). The lyric says, "I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allan Poe, raised in the city in the halo of lights."
  • MC Lars heavily refers to "The Raven" in his song "Mr. Raven" on his album The Laptop EP (2004). The song includes the words, "We got EAP in the house tonight, Edgar Allan Poe. America's favorite anti-transcendentalist." He continues to refer to "The Raven" throughout.
  • Scarlet's Well's fifth album Black Tulip Wings (2006) features musical settings of "To One In Paradise" and "Evening Star".
  • The L.A. Goth Rock Duo Creature Feature wrote the song "Buried Alive" about Poe, released in 2007. The song contains over 20 references to Poe's work and life. Works named include "A Dream Within a Dream", "The City in the Sea," "The Valley of Unrest," "Loss of Breath," "The Premature Burial," "The Oblong Box," "Never Bet the Devil Your Head," and many others.
  • Finnish goth-metal singer Ville Valo of the band HIM frequently cites[citation needed] Poe's work as the inspiration for many of his lyrics, even sporting a tattoo of Poe's eyes on his back.
  • Marilyn Manson has been quoted[citation needed] saying that some of his inspiration for his music and art comes from Edgar Allan Poe's works, and has even painted a portrait of Poe.
  • Gothic Metal band Tristania have a song called "My Lost Lenore." The song refers to "her raven eyes" and ends similarly to the poem "The Raven," still mourning his lost Lenore.
  • The neocelt band Omnia has set "The Raven" to music on their 2007 CD Alive!.
  • The post-hardcore band Chiodos cites Poe as one of their inspirations for lyrics from their third CD, entitled Bone Pallace Ballet.

[edit] References

  1. ^ AmericanSmyphong.org
  2. ^ Frank, Frederick S. and Anthony Magistrale. The Poe Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. p. 93 ISBN 0313277680
  3. ^ Schmitt at AmericanSymphony.org
  4. ^ Caplet at AmericanSymphony.org
  5. ^ Rachmaninoff at AmericanSymphony.org
  6. ^ New York Times online
  7. ^ Rautavaara at AmericanSymphony.org

[edit] See also

For his influence on other media:

For his appearances as a fictional character:

[edit] External links