Novels featuring classical music
November 30, 2020 9:22 PM Subscribe
For a Christmas gift, the recipient is interested in
"A novel that emphasizes performing or studying classical music. It should have discussions of one or more classical pieces and describe the emotions of performing or listening to them." Potential examples:
These are all from the Goodreads Music Fiction list; I'm going by the descriptions and haven't read them myself. Do any fit the topic particularly well or poorly? Or are there any other fiction books that come to mind? Literary fiction or genre eg alternate history or romance are all fine.
These are all from the Goodreads Music Fiction list; I'm going by the descriptions and haven't read them myself. Do any fit the topic particularly well or poorly? Or are there any other fiction books that come to mind? Literary fiction or genre eg alternate history or romance are all fine.
Best answer: The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova, it follows a violinist, and talks a lot about classical music.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 9:40 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Valancy Rachel at 9:40 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Oh and in lit fic, The Girl Who Trod On A Loaf is about writing and performing opera, though it's part ways about other things as well.
posted by Grim Fridge at 9:40 PM on November 30, 2020
posted by Grim Fridge at 9:40 PM on November 30, 2020
Best answer: Its appropriateness probably depends on recipient's tolerance for both mysteries and aggressive quirkiness, but Bellweather Rhapsody is set at a school music festival and has a couple of set pieces built around the experience of playing or hearing particular works.
posted by eponym at 9:56 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by eponym at 9:56 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Not sure which, maybe it is already on your list, but something by Richard Powers would be perfect.
posted by aniola at 10:21 PM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by aniola at 10:21 PM on November 30, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I believe the OG in this genre is Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus.
posted by praemunire at 10:29 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 10:29 PM on November 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
Best answer: An Equal Music is the only one of the four you list which I've read, and it would certainly fit the bill. Absolutely. I think it had a matching CD project at one point... *googles* Yes! Here.
posted by Coaticass at 10:31 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Coaticass at 10:31 PM on November 30, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies.
posted by Logophiliac at 10:51 PM on November 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Logophiliac at 10:51 PM on November 30, 2020 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Body & Soul by Frank Conroy.
posted by aws17576 at 12:06 AM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aws17576 at 12:06 AM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Can the music itself also be fictional? If so, The Hydrogen Sontata by Iain M. Banks may be what you seek.
Although it's in the future, the sonata of the title seems firmly rooted in the classical tradition to me.
posted by inexorably_forward at 12:15 AM on December 1, 2020
Although it's in the future, the sonata of the title seems firmly rooted in the classical tradition to me.
posted by inexorably_forward at 12:15 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: The Heart is a Lonley Hunter, by Carson McCullers has a subplot about a girl who has a deep passion for music she can't really pursue due to economic circumstances. There are some nice passages of her strolling through the neighbourhood, picking up wafts of a classical piece from a radio through an open window, and the profound effect that piece of music has on her. It's just one of many strands of the narrative though.
Richard Wagner features heavily in Death in Venice and Tristan, by Thomas Mann.
posted by sohalt at 12:42 AM on December 1, 2020
Richard Wagner features heavily in Death in Venice and Tristan, by Thomas Mann.
posted by sohalt at 12:42 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: Seconding Body & Soul by Frank Conroy, although it’s an older book. NYT review. I was actually reminded of this book recently because of The Queen’s Gambit.
There’s also Winter Music by Karen Rile, which is out of print, but maybe you can find a used copy.
posted by Violet Hour at 12:49 AM on December 1, 2020
There’s also Winter Music by Karen Rile, which is out of print, but maybe you can find a used copy.
posted by Violet Hour at 12:49 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: Us Conductors by Sean Michaels. It's a fictionalised story of Leon Theremin and Clara Rockmore.
posted by easternblot at 3:48 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by easternblot at 3:48 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency has some surprisingly pretty passages on Bach, and music in general is woven into the story quite deeply.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 5:04 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 5:04 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: The Mozart Season is a young adult book. It was one of my absolute favorites and I have read it at least 10 times. I actually think an adult would enjoy it and it fits your description perfectly.
posted by mai at 5:39 AM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mai at 5:39 AM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Seconding The Mozart Season. I'd also suggest The Ensemble by Aja Gabel.
posted by phlox at 6:06 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by phlox at 6:06 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: I haven't read it, but Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music was the inspiration for the great (and sadly-cancelled) Amazon series "Mozart in the Jungle".
posted by vitout at 6:53 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by vitout at 6:53 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: I'd like to suggest Thomas Bernhard's The Loser, on the 'literary fiction' end of things.
posted by RGD at 8:51 AM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by RGD at 8:51 AM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Definitely, definitely Do Not Say We Have Nothing.
"The central story, which unfolds in Shanghai in the 1960s, is about three musicians whose lives are permanently altered by the political convulsions unleashed by the Cultural Revolution. They are Sparrow, a renowned, introverted composer and teacher at the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music; his young cousin, the idealistic Zhuli, a prodigy violinist; and their friend Jiang Kai, a gifted pianist..."
posted by kitcat at 9:10 AM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
"The central story, which unfolds in Shanghai in the 1960s, is about three musicians whose lives are permanently altered by the political convulsions unleashed by the Cultural Revolution. They are Sparrow, a renowned, introverted composer and teacher at the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music; his young cousin, the idealistic Zhuli, a prodigy violinist; and their friend Jiang Kai, a gifted pianist..."
posted by kitcat at 9:10 AM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I recall liking http://www.richardpowers.net/the-gold-bug-variations/ quite a bit -- it's not about musicians but there's quite a bit of Bach in there.
posted by eraserbones at 9:18 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by eraserbones at 9:18 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: For Richard Powers, I think his best music-focused one is The Time Of Our Singing.
posted by Daily Alice at 9:27 AM on December 1, 2020
posted by Daily Alice at 9:27 AM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett!
posted by soleiluna at 3:43 PM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by soleiluna at 3:43 PM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I was gonna suggest some E.T.A. Hoffmann, but with reservations, 'Kater Murr' has some of those classic descriptions mixed with other strange stuff, much like several of his short stories.
digressing further, 'The Rest is Noise' by Alex Ross is non-fiction, but has many anecdotes about classical composers doing their things, with detailed descriptions of the music.
posted by ovvl at 4:25 PM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
digressing further, 'The Rest is Noise' by Alex Ross is non-fiction, but has many anecdotes about classical composers doing their things, with detailed descriptions of the music.
posted by ovvl at 4:25 PM on December 1, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Rebecca West’s delightful The Fountain Overflows features a family in which classical music and musicality is vital, and as I recall the book assumes a familiarity with specific composers and pieces that I certainly could not live up to. Sort of like when 19th century novels assume you know French.
posted by yarrow at 5:07 PM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by yarrow at 5:07 PM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: László Krasznahorkai's The Melancholy of Resistance has a section that focuses on the theories of Andreas Werckmeister.
posted by perhapses at 8:10 PM on December 1, 2020
posted by perhapses at 8:10 PM on December 1, 2020
Best answer: It matches your stated requirements, but you probably don't want Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata.
posted by JonJacky at 8:20 PM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by JonJacky at 8:20 PM on December 1, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Greg Bear's Songs of Earth and Power is a fantasy novel set partly on Earth about the transformative power of music, and the last half of the book focuses on the interpretation, performance of, and reactions to Gustav Mahler's Infinite Concerto.
posted by ananci at 12:45 PM on December 2, 2020
posted by ananci at 12:45 PM on December 2, 2020
Best answer: It's just a set piece and not the subject of the whole book, but On Beauty by Zadie Smith is a great novel and there's a lengthy scene at a performance of Mozart's Requiem with some typically insightful deconstruction. Here's a brief excerpt of that section.
posted by zeusianfog at 4:21 PM on December 2, 2020
posted by zeusianfog at 4:21 PM on December 2, 2020
Response by poster: Followup: I got Body & Soul and the recipient has reviewed it as "wonderful. I'm only a hundred pages in but enjoying it immensely" —hooray!
I'm also sending him the list of all these great ideas. Thanks immensely everyone who suggested.
posted by What is E. T. short for? at 5:48 PM on January 14, 2021
I'm also sending him the list of all these great ideas. Thanks immensely everyone who suggested.
posted by What is E. T. short for? at 5:48 PM on January 14, 2021
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posted by Grim Fridge at 9:38 PM on November 30, 2020