Musical associations: Listening to composers and reading writers

[Elgarian Redux]

This won't be a thread for everyone, of course. I realise that for many people, reading while listening to classical music is anathema: a contradiction in terms, almost. But this has arisen from a discussion in the 'Inattentive listening' thread (thanks to @Florestan for the idea). The question is: if you listen while you read, what composers fit well with which writers?

Sometimes it's obvious: for example, if you were reading The Arabian Nights, Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade or Antar would be a good accompaniment. (I can confirm that they are, having experience of those combinations.)

For myself, I find Handel - especially his chamber music, or early cantatas - tends to fit nicely as an accompaniment to almost any historical fiction. In my case that tends to be primarily the novels of Robert Neill. But there's another, less obvious connection, in what follows.

The late C19th novels of William Morris are best described as 'Fantasy Romances'. They are full of journeys through quintessential, but fictional, English landscapes and English towns, set in a quasi-medieval period. Absolutely typical of Morris in the broader sense. Handel's chamber music and early cantatas fit perfectly as an accompaniment (I say accompaniment; not 'background'). I can only explain this by saying that I always associate such pieces by Handel with outdoor, pastoral landscapes (not at all surprising with the cantatas, for that is usually their dramatic setting).

So if I pick up a Morris fantasy (The Well at the World's End, say, or The Wood Beyond the World), as I not infrequently do, you can bet that I'll be browsing among my Handel cantatas for something to pop in the player as I read. Usually, it doesn't matter which.

[AnotherSpin]

I often cook, eat, or sometimes drink while listening to music. As for smoking, I quit a long time ago, although there were some unforgettable combinations

[Florestan]

Great thread!

For me, the most obvious connection is that between Tchaikovsky and Turgenev: the pervading melancholy, the delicacy of feeling, the knack for understanding and expressing the feminine, the steering of middle course between Westernizers and Slavophiles --- they are the same in both. I can think of no more fitting music to accompany reading Home of the Gentry than the String Quartet No. 2 in F major, Op. 22. The Sixth Symphony is perfect for Fathers and Sons, while the Fourth goes best for Rudin. For The Song of Love Triumphant, a mix of Capriccio Italien and String Serenade works wonders. For all purposes, The Seasons.

[hopefullytrusting]

For me, Updike's Rabbit series and Julius Eastman/Morton Feldman for their sinister, uncanny banality aka suburbia.

[Brian]

For myself, I find Handel - especially his chamber music, or early cantatas - tends to fit nicely as an accompaniment to almost any historical fiction. In my case that tends to be primarily the novels of Robert Neill.

This was a plot twist to me, as I expected to see the Aubrey/Maturin novels at the end of the sentence! Maybe that is Boccherini.

I now often think of Nella Larsen's novel "Quicksand" when I hear Dvorak's New World Symphony, since the main character (an African American woman) hears the symphony while living in Europe and is overcome with homesickness.

[Elgarian Redux]

This was a plot twist to me, as I expected to see the Aubrey/Maturin novels at the end of the sentence! Maybe that is Boccherini.

Ah! I never got on with those Patrick O'Brian novels myself. I think I had Hornblower so deeply embedded in me that I just couldn't make the necessary nautical/neurotical adjustment. Which raises the question: what would suit CS Forester's Hornblower novels? I haven't read 'em for a while. Not Handel, that's for sure. La Mer is the coward's cheap and easy way out. Bax's Tintagel, maybe? I really don't know.

I now often think of Nella Larsen's novel "Quicksand" when I hear Dvorak's New World Symphony, since the main character (an African American woman) hears the symphony while living in Europe and is overcome with homesickness.

An interesting reversal, there, Brian. The novel is almost now acting as a (remembered) accompaniment to the music!

[lordlance]

Not reading but I used to study extensively while listening to music. Really made things more fun for me personally. Math/accounting can be complemented with music. Reading/learning... Not so much (to me.) 

[San Antone]

Probably over 90% of the time I am doing something else while I listen to music.  Most often I am driving, but it used to the the case that I would have something playing in the background while I read.  I rarely do that today since my listening is primarily done via streaming and I rarely stream music in my living room or bedroom, which are the most common places where I read.

I rarely listen to music without doing anything else. This happens if I my intention is to focus on a specific work.  It  could be one I've never heard, or one I know well, but for some reason I have chosen to devote my attention to it exclusively at that time. But as I wrote at the top, this is small minority of the time, I estimated 10%, but it might even be smaller than that.

I mainly listen to music for enjoyment, not study, and find that having it on in the background relieves the tedium of driving ( I have a regular commute of about 40 minutes most days).

But these days I mostly read without music playing.

[Spotted Horses]

I have never purposefully read while listening to music. In my case both activities require undivided attention. Unfortunately, using the computer to listen involves resisting distraction, which I often fail to do. I have a touch of (self-diagnosed) ADHD and can find myself reading linear notes/Wiki pages about the music I have put on, checking for alternate recordings, etc. This detracts from actually enjoying the music.

[Mister Sharpe]

Multi-tasking may have had its day; psychologists and labor sociologists have recently called into question the quality of work typical of multiple pursuits. Speaking personally, and perhaps because I am older, I much prefer focusing on a single activity, be it listening to music, reading, or household tasks.  Not to take anything away from those who can effectively - or enjoyably - combine endeavors. I like to accord what I'm doing with laserpoint focus and being retired I can afford the time. I realize this is an extreme example, but I had a roommate once; he was studying to be an X-Ray technician.  He had the poorest study habits of anyone I ever knew or heard of.  He claimed it was necessary, when he read his textbooks, that the TV, radio, or stereo be on and loud (sometimes he would have two of those playing!).  He was sadly mistaken; he failed his licensing exams three times and that's all students were allowed in the state I'm from.  Ended up selling fire extinguishers...   

[Karl Henning]

Multi-tasking may have had its day; psychologists and labor sociologists have recently called into question the quality of work typical of multiple pursuits. Speaking personally, and perhaps because I am older, I much prefer focusing on a single activity, be it listening to music, reading, or household tasks.  Not to take anything away from those who can effectively - or enjoyably - combine endeavors. I like to accord what I'm doing with laserpoint focus and being retired I can afford the time. I realize this is an extreme example, but I had a roommate once; he was studying to be an X-Ray technician.  He had the poorest study habits of anyone I ever knew or heard of.  He claimed it was necessary, when he read his textbooks, that the TV, radio, or stereo be on and loud (sometimes he would have two of those playing!).  He was sadly mistaken; he failed his licensing exams three times and that's all students were allowed in the state I'm from.  Ended up selling fire extinguishers... 

On the bright side, people do need fire extinguishers ....

[Mister Sharpe]

On the bright side, people do need fire extinguishers ....

And fire extinguishing salesmen need to eat, however poor their study habits! 

[Mandryka]

Madrigals and motets are the genre for reading and music, people think that the practice in renaissance and earlier times was to present the poems before the music. In fact I can't really see how a they can really work unless you're very aware of the details of the text, and the polyphony and makes it pretty well impossible to actually follow the words by listening.

There's also Messiaen's piano music, where the whole raison d'être of a piece may be to represent a landscape and soundscape over time, or an arcane religious idea. If you're not reading you're really missing his point.

I just typed in "reading" into my database and what came up is rather fabulous: a piece by Mesias Maiguashka called "Reading Beckett."

[AnotherSpin]

Madrigals and motets are the genre for reading and music, people think that the practice in renaissance and earlier times was to present the poems before the music. In fact I can't really see how a they can really work unless you're very aware of the details of the text, and the polyphony and makes it pretty well impossible to actually follow the words by listening.

There's also Messiaen's piano music, where the whole raison d'être of a piece may be to represent a landscape and soundscape over time, or an arcane religious idea. If you're not reading you're really missing his point.

I just typed in "reading" into my database and what came up is rather fabulous: a piece by Mesias Maiguashka called "Reading Beckett."

Yes. And, when it comes to opera, there is a marked difference between simply listening and listening while following the text. This matters especially in works of substance, such as Wagner, rather than in some trivial salon fare where it may be better not to know what is being sung at all.

[Lisztianwagner]

It might be predictable, but J.R.R. Tolkien/Richard Wagner, for their solemnity, heroism, powerful suggestiveness and inspiration from the myth.

[Florestan]

It might be predictable, but J.R.R. Tolkien/Richard Wagner, for their solemnity, heroism, powerful suggestiveness and inspiration from the myth.

 

[Florestan]

Mozart's wind serenades and divertimenti for Goethe's Elective Affinities.

Beethoven's symphonies and piano concertos for Hugo's Les Miserables.

[ritter]

It might be predictable, but J.R.R. Tolkien/Richard Wagner, for their solemnity, heroism, powerful suggestiveness and inspiration from the myth.

I don't mean to be polemical, Ilaria, but I've never found the Wagner - Tolkien association adequate o fair. To paraphrase Boulez, it's like olive oil, Tolkien is the second or even third pressing of Wagner.

Buona sera a te!

[Karl Henning]

I don't mean to be polemical, Ilaria, but I've never found the Wagner - Tolkien association adequate o fair. To paraphrase Boulez, it's like olive oil, Tolkien is the second or even third pressing of Wagner.

Buona sera a te!

I'll never believe that Wagner wrote better than Tolkien. 

[ritter]

Good evening to you, @Karl Henning !