Science Fiction and Music
amar...@nospam-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk
A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
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Ralph Hartsock
_The Day the Earth Stood Still_ and the Jules Verne classic _Journey to
the Center of the Earth_.
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
--
==========================================
Ralph Hartsock
University of North Texas Music Library
rhar...@library.unt.edu
http://www.library.unt.edu/info/willis/music/default.asp
Colin Rosenthal
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk <amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk>
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical
music and vice versa.
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and
hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a
fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
There's a Kim Stanley Robinson book about a musician from Pluto, iirc.
(Please try to include line-breaks in future posts.)
--
Colin Rosenthal
High Altitude Observatory
Boulder, Colorado
rose...@hao.ucar.edu
Rick Cavalla
<<I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music
and vice versa. A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera,
and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a
fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any
ideas? >>
This may be obvious, but the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" was full of
classical music. As far as written SF, "The Music of Erich Zann" by H.P.
Lovecraft comes to mind.
Rick Cavalla
ra...@NO.erols.SPAM.com
(remove NO and SPAM to e-mail)
==============
Currently listening to: K. Penderecki - Emanations
==============
"This I know - the world is falling
Imminence reeks in the air..." - Oxiplegatz
BHeneg8560
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk writes:
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
>vice versa.
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
>'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF
>reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
>
I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
strong musical strand to it.
Do you know Kingsley Amis's "The Alteration", a parallel-world story in which
the industrial revolution never took place (alteration number 1) and in which a
highly talented boy soprano/composer has to decide whether or not to undergo
castration as a good career move (alteration number 2)?
There's a beautiful novella by the great Orson Scott Card called "Unaccompanied
Sonata", in which, in an impossibly distant future, composers must grow up in
isolation so as not to have their muse corrupted by other influences. The
composer-protagonist's accidental exposure to some Bach is immediately apparent
in his (secretly-monitored) output because of his cover-up attempts - all fugue
suddenly vanishes from his work. He is cast into the wilderness, no longer
permitted to compose, but like a weed through pavements his music can't be
stilled, and the rest of the tale is a record of his successive
state-engendered mutilations, until, handless and tongueless he too becomes a
careers advisor for the state. Upon retirement, he's permitted to travel freely
and hears debased versions of his songs still being played by street-corner
bands, punks and teenagers who are moved by refractions of his music.
Don't forget "Close Encounters".
I once began an SF story based on some ideas of Milton Babbit, which involved a
"Close Encounters"-type use of pitches, in my case the first hexachords of
combinatorial tone-rows used as an easily-transmissible token of intellectual
development. Why? Because, AESK (as every schoolboy knows), a combinatorial
tone row is one in which the first six notes, or "hexachord", can be mapped by
transposition and/or inversion, into the second six notes. It has an
intellectual rigour which transcends all local cultures, or so I thought... It
foundered because I couldn't think of any convincing reason why octaves should
get divided up into twelve in the first place.
best wishes
Ben Heneghan
"What - no gwavy?!?"
Harvey Kornblatt
think) called something like "The Voyage" to celebrate the anniversary
of Christopher Columbus' voyages. I found it to be trite but many
people seemed to enjoy it.
Don't forget John William's score for Star Wars and the use of J. and
R Strauss in "2001"
diva
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music
> and vice versa. A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing
> opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite
> being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone
> offer any ideas?
>
Strauss in 2001 A Space Odyssey
--
Diva
It's Not What's Eating You
It's What You're Eating
donlazaro
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote in message
<6tmmi7$lma$1...@orthanc.reference.com>...
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music
and vice versa.
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF
reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
>
Mike Richter
As to your question, check out
Blomdahl: Aniara
Janacek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek
There are more, but those may be the easiest to find.
Mike
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
>
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
>
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
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mric...@mindspring.com
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Bernard Hill
2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk writes
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
>vice versa.
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
>'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader,
>though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
The story of Stanley Kubrick and the Ligeti Requiem which I understand
he used without permission is worth researching. (Anyone remember more
than my faulty memory does? - wasn't he sued over it?). Plus of course
that he completely "destroyed" Also Spracht Zarathustra for the new
listener <g>.
Bernard Hill
Braeburn Software
Author of Music Publisher system
Music Software written by musicians for musicians
http://www.braeburn.co.uk
Selkirk, Scotland
01750 721854
+44 1750 721854
Jonathan Liechty
One opera that comes to mind is Karl-Birger Blomdahl's _Aniara_,
about colonists on a ship from Earth to Mars.
Todd Machover has also done an opera, _Valis_, based on a story
by Philip K. Dick.
It might also be worth mentioning the use of the works of Ligeti,
Richard Strauss, (others?) in _2001, A Space Odyssey_, though the
connection in that case is kind of tenuous since the composers didn't
make the music especially for the film.
Somtow Sukharitkul has written an orchestra piece called _The Light
On the Sound_; I'm not sure of its relationship with his novel of the
same name.
Lloyd Biggle, Jr., has written novels and stories about music,
the one that I remember the best right now being _The Still Small Voice
of Trumpets_. He's also written a story whose title I've forgotten,
about a violin teacher placed in competition with a violin-teaching
machine, who resorts to trickery to preserve his livelihood.
Ursula LeGuin collaborated with composer Todd Barton to produce
_Always Coming Home_, a "sociological study" of a future society (I
haven't actually read/heard it, so I'm not sure how accurate that
description is).
There's a Star Trek (NG?) novel called _The Children of Hamelin_,
in which music figures highly.
I remember reading a Mercedes Lackey novel which involved
members of a rock band being taken over by occult forces, but I don't
remember the title.
How's that to begin with?
-Jon
Jocelyn Lavin
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
>Subject: Science Fiction and Music
>From: amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk
>Organization: Reference.Com Posting Service
>Date: 15 Sep 1998 21:35:03 GMT
>Newsgroups: rec.music.classical,rec.music.opera
>
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
>vice versa.
>
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
>'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF >reader,
>though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
What about unusual classical works used in SF films.... e.g. one of
Hanson's symphonies was used in "Alien", ISTR. And, of course the Blue
Danube + Also Sprach Zarathustra in "2001".
And, if you've read Julian May's Pliocene books, you probably already know
of the companion book to the series, in which she lists the classical music
she was hearing in her head while writing each bit (mainly bits of Carmina
Burana, but also Ravel's La Valse, Stravinsky's King of the Stars,
Rachmaninov's Vocalise, etc.)
Jeffrey Friedman
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
A lot of aliens seem to be hanging out on rec.music.opera
Jeffrey F. Friedman
je...@friedman.com
j...@ix.netcom.co
Deryk Barker
: In article <6tmmi7$lma$1...@orthanc.reference.com>,
: amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk writes:
:
: >I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
: >vice versa.
: >A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
: >'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF
: >reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
: >
:
: I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
: strong musical strand to it.
Also his The Black Cloud, in which the Hammerklavier sonata plays an
important role.
has anyone mentioned Karl Birger Blomdahl's space opera Aniara?
--
|Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept. | Music does not have to be understood|
|Camosun College, Victoria, BC, Canada| It has to be listened to. |
|email: dba...@camosun.bc.ca | |
|phone: +1 250 370 4452 | Hermann Scherchen. |
Michael A. Abelson
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
>
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
There is a piece by Henry Brandt called "Galaxy II" (or "2"). It is long out of print, but was available on LP. Galaxy II was the space ship of Captain Video, an old TV show from the early fifties. Its theme was
the Flying Dutchman Overture, by the way.
Allan Jones
>
> Blomdahl: Aniara
> Janacek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek
Let's not forget Haydn's opera called something like 'The World
on the Moon' (but in Italian).
Allan Jones
remove unlikely characters for real e-mail
Jeff Harrington
: I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
: A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
Gyorgy Ligeti's opera... (Uh... not woken up enough to remember the
title) is about a planet where absurdity and astrology rule.
Michael Tippet has a SciFi opera.
This is a ridiculously unhelpful post of mine, but maybe it will offer the
beginning of a referral. Going to get coffee, right now.
Jeff Harrington [-->>[[ Mercurealities for Flute, Viola, Cello MPEG ]]<<--]
je...@parnasse.com [->>[[ http://www.parnasse.com/mercurealities.mp2 ]]<<--]
http://www.parnasse.com/jeff.htm --------->>[[ My Music ]]<<--------------]
http://www.parnasse.com/vrml.shtml ------->>[[ My Worlds ]]<<-------------]
Victor Eijkhout
piece of electronic music. (The husband and wife team that made
it didn't get an oscar for best score since they were not with
the musicians union.)
There is a story/novel (it's been a long time) "Revolt of the
one-handed" (or something like that) about a planet where dexterity
on a harp-like instrument is highly valued. Unfortunately the ruler
has a tendency to chop people's right hands off when he's displeased.
The protagonist is an observer from another planet who decides
to introduce the trumpet to that planet ....
--
Victor Eijkhout
"[MicroSoft] said they couldn't find some of the Windows 95 and DOS
source code [...]" [Caldera CEO Sparks, about MS' failure to turn over
evidence in an antitrust lawsuit]
Ralph Hartsock
science fiction is now fact, Andrew Yee of the U of Toronto provides
some sound wave patterns of solar oscillation at:
http://quake.Stanford.edu:80/~sasha/SOUNDS/
Stephen Taylor, of Illinois State U. has used these in a composition,
_Shattering Suns_, at:
http://www.orat.ilstu.edu/~staylor/suns/index.html
Jeff Harrington wrote:
> In rec.music.classical amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
> : I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.<snip>
> Jeff Harrington [-->>[[ Mercurealities for Flute, Viola, Cello MPEG ]]<<--]
Matthew B. Tepper
pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
>
>Gyorgy Ligeti's opera... (Uh... not woken up enough to remember the
>title) is about a planet where absurdity and astrology rule.
You mean the Reagan Administration?
(Uh-oh, here comes Tom Kaufman....)
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Brian Newhouse
<rus...@shell7.ba.best.com> wrote:
"In rec.music.classical amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
": I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical
music and vice versa.
": A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and
hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly
avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
"
"Gyorgy Ligeti's opera... (Uh... not woken up enough to remember the
"title) is about a planet where absurdity and astrology rule.
*Grand Macabre*. But isn't Breughelland (where the opera takes place) a
place on Earth Herself? And Astrodamors is a perfectly legitimate
astronomer rather than an astrologer--but that would make the opera closer
to SF rather than further from it. In any case, I wouldn't call it an SF
opera; the apocalyptic subject-matter, despte the comet, is more
traditionally eschatalogical than scientific.
"Michael Tippet[t] has a SciFi opera.
*New Year*.
"This is a ridiculously unhelpful post of mine, but maybe it will offer the
"beginning of a referral. Going to get coffee, right now.
"
"Jeff Harrington [-->>[[ Mercurealities for Flute, Viola, Cello MPEG ]]<<--]
"je...@parnasse.com [->>[[ http://www.parnasse.com/mercurealities.mp2 ]]<<--]
"http://www.parnasse.com/jeff.htm --------->>[[ My Music ]]<<--------------]
"http://www.parnasse.com/vrml.shtml ------->>[[ My Worlds ]]<<-------------]
--
Brian Newhouse
newh...@newton.crisp.net
Matthew B. Tepper
>
> The soundtrack of "Forbidden planet" is quite a revolutionary piece of
> electronic music. (The husband and wife team that made it didn't get
> an oscar for best score since they were not with the musicians union.)
>
> There is a story/novel (it's been a long time) "Revolt of the
> one-handed" (or something like that) about a planet where dexterity
> on a harp-like instrument is highly valued. Unfortunately the ruler
> has a tendency to chop people's right hands off when he's displeased.
> The protagonist is an observer from another planet who decides
> to introduce the trumpet to that planet ....
_The Still, Small Voice of Trumpets_, by Lloyd Biggle. I imagine the
title you give is from a translation.
Biggle, BTW, is not only a science fiction and mystery writer, but also
a musicologist (University of Michigan) who wrote his dissertation on
the masses of Antoine Brumel.
> --
> Victor Eijkhout
> "[MicroSoft] said they couldn't find some of the Windows 95 and DOS
> source code [...]" [Caldera CEO Sparks, about MS' failure to turn over
> evidence in an antitrust lawsuit]
--
Jeff Harrington
: "Gyorgy Ligeti's opera... (Uh... not woken up enough to remember the
: "title) is about a planet where absurdity and astrology rule.
: *Grand Macabre*. But isn't Breughelland (where the opera takes place) a
: place on Earth Herself? And Astrodamors is a perfectly legitimate
: astronomer rather than an astrologer--but that would make the opera closer
: to SF rather than further from it. In any case, I wouldn't call it an SF
: opera; the apocalyptic subject-matter, despte the comet, is more
: traditionally eschatalogical than scientific.
Admittedly, it's easier to think of Le Grand Macabre being
surrealistic/dadaist. But things with comets... space...
Nicolai P. Zwar
thread) film scores, and obvious pic(k)s like "2001-A Space Odyssey" you
might also include Alan Hovahness "Star Dawn" symphony (No. 53, op. 377)
in your research.
But perhaps you get stuck because you have no clear concept on what to
write about? "Science fiction in classical music and vice versa" is a
much to vague concept to base an article on. What is it that you want to
say, where do you want to go with your article? One usually gets stuck
because one does not know exactly where to go. Try to rethink your focus
(e.g. "Classical music put to use in science fiction films", "Science
fiction literature dealing with the mysteries of music", "Science
fiction reading composers", "Dirk Reith", "Artificial intelligence and
musique concrete", "The Ring in Wagner and Tolkien" (o.k, fantasy, I
know), "Serialism in music and science fiction", ). These are just
examples from the top of my head, but once you know what you actually
want to write ABOUT, you'll have it much easier.
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk schrieb:
>
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
>
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
--
Nicolai P. Zwar
Remove "NOT THESE FOUR WORDS" to reply.
Paul Dormer
eijk...@prancer.cs.utk.edu (Victor Eijkhout) wrote:
> The soundtrack of "Forbidden planet" is quite a revolutionary
> piece of electronic music. (The husband and wife team that made
> it didn't get an oscar for best score since they were not with
> the musicians union.)
>
> There is a story/novel (it's been a long time) "Revolt of the
> one-handed" (or something like that) about a planet where dexterity
> on a harp-like instrument is highly valued. Unfortunately the ruler
> has a tendency to chop people's right hands off when he's displeased.
> The protagonist is an observer from another planet who decides
> to introduce the trumpet to that planet ....
>
The Still, Small, Voice of Trumpets by Lloyd Biggle Jr.
Paul Dormer
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk () wrote:
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical
> music and vice versa.
>
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and
> hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a
> fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any
> ideas?
>
Other SF operas not yet mentioned:
Offenbach did a couple of operettas on Jules Verne stories. From the
Earth to the Moon and Doctor Ox's Experiment. The latter was done as an
opera this year in London with music by Gavin Bryars.
Janacek also did The Makropolous Case, based on a play by Karel Capek, the
inventor of the term Robot. It's about a three-hundred year old opera
singer.
Sallinen's The King goes forth to France is set in the future, during an
ice age, but seems to get mixed up with the hundred years war.
Tippett's SF opera has been mentioned. It was called New Year. The Ice
Break has SF elements at the end.
Glass did an opera called The Making of the Representative of Planet 8,
based on a novel by Doris Lessing.
Manu Rouat
>
> BHeneg8560 (bhene...@aol.com) wrote:
> : In article <6tmmi7$lma$1...@orthanc.reference.com>,
> : amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk writes:
> :
> : >I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
> : >vice versa.
> : >A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
> : >'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF
> : >reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
I remember two SF short stories that dealt with music. One (by R. Silverberg)
was the story of Pergolesi, thrown into the 21st century (don't remember
exactly how - cloning if I'm correct).
The other one was very interesting (also by Silverberg, if I'm correct): it
was the story of an experiment : a man , totally incapable of understanding
(or even less making) music, has his mind 're-educated':he is given the
personnality of Richard Strauss, and sets off to write a new piece.
At the premiere, after the piece is performed, he finds out that he is
not Strauss at all, but the result of an experiment. The interesting point
was that , during the audition of his own newly composed piece, the Strauss avatar
feels that this music is empty, uninspired, although technically well made.
I read it a long time ago, so I could be wrong about some details.
manu
Keith Edgerley
>
>
>
> Do you know Kingsley Amis's "The Alteration", a parallel-world story in which
> the industrial revolution never took place (alteration number 1) and in which a
> highly talented boy soprano/composer has to decide whether or not to undergo
> castration as a good career move (alteration number 2)?
>
>
> Ben Heneghan
>
> "What - no gwavy?!?"
Thanks for reminding us of The Alteration, a very good read. However, it
was not the industrial revolution that had not taken place in the
parallel universe, but the Reformation. Martin Luther had sold out and
become Pope under the name of Germanicus. There was industry, but
electricity was considered the work of the devil, and the Church was
all-powerful even in the 20th century.
The novel is full of neat little touches, such as the names of singers
(an ageing castrato is called Fredericus Mirabilis (Fritz Wunderlich, of
course)), a second Mozart requiem, K. 800 plus, in D minor, the
invention of blue notes, and a Yorkshire Pope.
The castration (the alteration of the title) is not a career move from a
prepubescent, but demanded by the Church and resisted by the family
under threats from the Inquisition. The outcome is unexpected and
slightly spooky.
In one of Douglas Adams' books, but the title escapes me, Bach and his
music are non-existent initially and music from an alien space-ship from
millions of years ago is saved by inventing the composer and attributing
the music to him.
--
Keith
Sapere aude
Gregory Merklin
: I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in
: classical music and vice versa.
Beethoven in _A Clockwork Orange_.
--
Dr. Gregory T. Merklin ~
Division of Soils ~ "It is a bawdy planet"
University of Idaho ~ --Shakespeare, _The Winter's Tale_
Moscow, ID 83844 ~
Derek Haslam
BHeneg8560 <bhene...@aol.com> wrote:
> I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
> strong musical strand to it.
This isn't the only Fred Hoyle novel with a musical strand. In his
best-known novel, "The Black Cloud" communication is established with
a high alien intelligence inhabiting a cloud of interstellar dust
which has surrounded the sun. After being given much information
about human society the alien asks for music to be transmitted and is
given Beethoven's B flat sonata (Hammerklavier).
Derek
--
__ __ __ __ __
/ \ | ||__ |__)/ | | |_ Derek Haslam: Acorn Computer Enthusiast
\_\/ |__||__ | \\__ |__| __| que...@argonet.co.uk
\ Mastery of the rules is a pre-requisite for creatively breaking them.
Jeff Harrington
: In article <199809152337...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
: BHeneg8560 <bhene...@aol.com> wrote:
:> I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
:> strong musical strand to it.
: This isn't the only Fred Hoyle novel with a musical strand. In his
: best-known novel, "The Black Cloud" communication is established with
: a high alien intelligence inhabiting a cloud of interstellar dust
: which has surrounded the sun. After being given much information
: about human society the alien asks for music to be transmitted and is
: given Beethoven's B flat sonata (Hammerklavier).
What was the alien's reaction?
I'm reminded of a non-fiction book by Lewis Thomas, "Lives of a Cell"
where he proposed that we begin a program where radio antennas were used
to "brag" or put our "best foot forward" to alien species. He proposed
that we broadcast the entire works of JS Bach 24 hours a day.
Eric Schissel
As to Ligeti's opera, it's called Le Grand Macabre, I believe, and was
performed earlier this year.
-Eric Schissel
--
schi...@lightlink.com
http://www.lightlink.com/schissel ICQ#7279016
standard disclaimer
Frank Eggleston
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
>
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed 'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Posted using Reference.COM http://WWW.Reference.COM
> FREE Usenet and Mailing list archive, directory and clipping service
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a comic science-fiction novel (it may have been titled "Space-Opera" and it may have been written by Jack Vance -- memory fails) which concerned the trials of an travelling opera company which went from
planet to planet, performing standard repertory works. Much of the humor comes from the modifications that they have to make to staging and plots to accomodate the customs, religions, and ethnic rules of the
various audiences before which they perform.
Frank Eggleston
--
"Must ... control ... fist ... of ... death!!"
--- Alice, from "Dilbert"
Matthew B. Tepper
>
> There was a comic science-fiction novel (it may have been titled
> "Space-Opera" and it may have been written by Jack Vance -- memory
> fails) which concerned the trials of an travelling opera company which
> went from planet to planet, performing standard repertory works. Much
> of the humor comes from the modifications that they have to make to
> staging and plots to accomodate the customs, religions, and ethnic
> rules of the various audiences before which they perform.
_Space Opera_, by Jack Vance.
Henry Tickner
>vice versa.
>A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
>'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF reader,
>though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
You might want to refer to Haydn's 1777 Il Mondo della Luna (The World
on the Moon). They don't actually get to the moon of course, but it's
the first opera I can think of that deals with off-earth concepts.
--
Henry Tickner
"Milk-Punch? o Wisky?"
The 'nospam' is my ISP's domain, the 'boudoir' is mine.
Len Fehskens
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote
>
>I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical
>music and vice versa.
>
stories I recall.
One is titled "Johann Sebastian Brahms" (or something similar) where
the biographies of a whole slew of composers are jumbled up; I don't
recall the specific SF connection, but I wish I could find the story
again, it was a real hoot. I believe it may have been one of those
"experience your fantasies" stories, and the subject has a faulty
recollection of various composers' biographies.
There's another story involving the resurrection of Richard Strauss,
and his frustrations at being required (sort of as payment for having
been resurrected?) to compose more works in his old style. Sorry, I
can't recall the title or author.
Finally, there's another story (again, sorry I don't recall the title
or author) where the protagonist sets off on a journey to the outer
reaches of the solar system just to "get away from it all", to the
accompaniment of the Bruckner 4th.
If anyone can provide correct citations for the these stories, it would
be greatly appreciated.
len.
Matthew B. Tepper
>
>and his frustrations at being required (sort of as payment for having
>been resurrected?) to compose more works in his old style. Sorry, I
>can't recall the title or author.
"A Work of Art" by James Blish, in the collection _Galactic Cluster_.
Margaret Mikulska
>
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and vice versa.
>
Next to Glass's "Voyage", Karl-Birger Blomdahl's opera "Aniara" is a
good example.
Written in 1959, recorded on Caprice (I think) or some other
Scandinavian label (Blomdahl was/is Swedish).
Holst's Planets are hardly SF, by the way.
-Margaret
Michael A. Abelson
> Gyorgy Ligeti's opera... (Uh... not woken up enough to remember the
> title) is about a planet where absurdity and astrology rule.
>
Written during the Reagan administration?
ILawson104
<rus...@shell7.ba.best.com> writes:
>Derek Haslam <que...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
>: In article <199809152337...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
>: BHeneg8560 <bhene...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>:> I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
>:> strong musical strand to it.
>
>: This isn't the only Fred Hoyle novel with a musical strand. In his
>: best-known novel, "The Black Cloud" communication is established with
>: a high alien intelligence inhabiting a cloud of interstellar dust
>: which has surrounded the sun. After being given much information
>: about human society the alien asks for music to be transmitted and is
>: given Beethoven's B flat sonata (Hammerklavier).
>
>What was the alien's reaction?
I seem to remember the aliens found it interesting but wanted to hear it played
faster. ( perhaps there was nothing the matter with Beethoven's metronome
after all )
Regards, Ian Lawson
Mike Richter
>
> Mike Richter wrote:
> >
>
> > Blomdahl: Aniara
> > Janacek: The Excursions of Mr. Broucek
>
> Let's not forget Haydn's opera called something like 'The World
> on the Moon' (but in Italian).
Oddly, I ran into my copy of it tonight while working on something else.
However, it is more fantasy than science fiction to me - not that the
Janacek is not fantastic, but it is the fantasy of a man in a drunken
stupor. Aniara, in contrast, is a familiar SF theme - the closed world
of a spaceship in transit.
Mike
mric...@mindspring.com
http://mrichter.simplenet.com
CD-R http://resource.simplenet.com
BHeneg8560
aliens communicate through the media of tap-dance and farting.
ly...@access5.digex.net
Jonathan Liechty <jlie...@ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> One opera that comes to mind is Karl-Birger Blomdahl's _Aniara_,
>about colonists on a ship from Earth to Mars.
> Todd Machover has also done an opera, _Valis_, based on a story
>by Philip K. Dick.
Also, there's Fred Pohl's novel _Narabedla, Ltd._, where the main character
is an opera singer.
Rich
----------------------------------------------
MIMOSA website: http://www.smithway.org/mimosa
(MIMOSA 22 now online)
Matthew B. Tepper
mabe...@telerama.lm.com pondered what I'm pondering as follows:
Wow, déja vu!
Deryk Barker
: Derek Haslam <que...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
: : In article <199809152337...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
: : BHeneg8560 <bhene...@aol.com> wrote:
:
: :> I remember a Fred Hoyle novel, "October The First is Too Late" which had a
: :> strong musical strand to it.
:
: : This isn't the only Fred Hoyle novel with a musical strand. In his
: : best-known novel, "The Black Cloud" communication is established with
: : a high alien intelligence inhabiting a cloud of interstellar dust
: : which has surrounded the sun. After being given much information
: : about human society the alien asks for music to be transmitted and is
: : given Beethoven's B flat sonata (Hammerklavier).
:
: What was the alien's reaction?
The cloud's reaction is to ask for the first part to be repeated, but
about 30% faster - i.e. at around Beethoven's MM....
BTW at the end of Arthur C Clarke's elegiac Childhood's End, the last
man on Earth finally achieves his ambition to be the world's finest
Bach player.
--
|Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept. | Music does not have to be understood|
|Camosun College, Victoria, BC, Canada| It has to be listened to. |
|email: dba...@camosun.bc.ca | |
|phone: +1 250 370 4452 | Hermann Scherchen. |
pet...@ms.com
amar...@NoSPAM-2296.ns1.avnet.co.uk wrote:
> I've been asked to write an article on science fiction in classical music and
vice versa.
> A few things spring to mind, like the Glass / Lessing opera, and hackneyed
'space' themes such as The Planets, etc. Despite being a fairly avid SF
reader, though, I am getting stuck. Can anyone offer any ideas?
>
You might want to include something about the thermond
(sp), an electronic instrument first used by Miklos Roza
in his score for Spellbound, but which became a staple for
every score of every science fiction movie from that point
onwards.
HTH
Pjk
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
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Paul Dormer
Rouat) wrote:
> The other one was very interesting (also by Silverberg, if I'm
> correct): it
> was the story of an experiment : a man , totally incapable of
> understanding
> (or even less making) music, has his mind 're-educated':he is given the
> personnality of Richard Strauss, and sets off to write a new piece.
> At the premiere, after the piece is performed, he finds out that he is
> not Strauss at all, but the result of an experiment. The interesting
> point
> was that , during the audition of his own newly composed piece, the
> Strauss avatar
> feels that this music is empty, uninspired, although technically well
> made.
I think that is by James Blish, but I can't remember what it's called.
Interestingly, Blish was himself a composer, I seem to recall.
Amaranth
> write about? "Science fiction in classical music and vice versa" is a
> much to vague concept to base an article on. What is it that you want to
> say, where do you want to go with your article? One usually gets stuck
> because one does not know exactly where to go.
Well, I'm fairly sure that the article won't be concentrating on films or
soundtracks,
simply because I don't see many films and don't remember much about them!
There'll probably be two main threads: how science fiction plays with
classical music,
its future, how alien cultures might do it differently, etc.: and how
'classical' music
has incorporated science fiction themes. I don't intend to get too deeply
into a
discussion of movements in 20th century music, except as a basis for
science-
fictional imaginings about 'where next'.
One thing I have to work in somehow is Kim Stanley's Robinson's rather
pretentious
little comment that the rings of Saturn are 'like the music Beethoven would
have written
if he'd ever seen the sea'. (Or words to that effect).
Thanks for all the suggestions! (*Who* is Dirk Reith?)
Terry Oxley
Though I can't remember when or in what collection of short stories I read
it in, there is a story about time travel where future visitors get to
look in Beethoven's mind as he writes a symphony. The catch is that it
then is never created and disappears from the future.
Terry
*******************************************************************************
Terry Oxley
Department of Music
Bloomsburg University
Bloomsburg Pennsylvania
ox...@planetx.bloomu.edu
Michael A. Abelson
William J. Schmidt
introduction of which he expresses that his plan was to explore some of the
literary themes from Wagner's Ring cycle, with many of his characters having
analogues in the Ring (Wotan, Bruennhilde, Siegmund, Sieglinde, etc.). The Wotan
character is similarly seemingly omnipotent, but effectively powerless. A lot of
the characters have names more or less reminiscent of names from the Ring or from
German legend in general. It's a hell of a read, although a bit too raw for many
readers (rape and sadism).
Len Fehskens
>You might want to include something about the thermond
>(sp)
Theremin
Paul Cotton
>
>There is a piece by Henry Brandt called "Galaxy II" (or "2"). It is long out of print, but was available on LP. Galaxy II was the space ship of Captain Video, an old TV show from the early fifties. Its theme was
>the Flying Dutchman Overture, by the way.
Reminds me of Liszt's Les Preludes in Flash Gordon.
---------------
Paul Cotton
Please remove any NOSPAM from my address to email
Nicolai P. Zwar
> Thanks for all the suggestions! (*Who* is Dirk Reith?)
Obviously, my own suggestions for a theme were not meant to be all that
serious. Dirk Reith is a very modern composer, whose music uses a lot of
sampled computer noise, "algorithmically" calculated notes, etc. . He is
Professor of Composition at the Folkwang-Hochschule Essen and has also
written a lot of essays about compositionary theory in instrumental and
electronic music, and his music sounds and feels (and his essays read at
times) very "futuristic". Not for everybody, but I find it interesting.
Good luck for your article.
--
Nicolai P. Zwar
Remove "NOT THESE FOUR WORDS" to reply.
T. Garrison Morfit
to the 20th C. and discovering the history of music through Beethoven,
Wagner, jazz, and finally rock. He eventually becomes the keyboard player in
a rock group! Does anyone have details on this? - I cannot remember title
or author.
Colin Rosenthal
I don't know of it but there's a short story "Mozart in Mirrorshades" which
appeared in the cyberpunk anthology "Mirrorshades". It might have been
by Bruce Sterling but then again, it might not.
--
Colin Rosenthal
High Altitude Observatory
Boulder, Colorado
rose...@hao.ucar.edu
Amaranth
Now that I *do* know...