MUSIC, DRAMA, AND FANTASIA

Calvin S. Brown, Music and Literature: A Comparison of the Arts

(University Press of New England, 1987) First published in 1948, this eminently readable book is still the only comprehensive modern scholarly treatment of the interrelation between music and literature.

Nancy Anne Cluck, editor, Literature and Music: Essays on Form

(Brigham Young University Press, 1981) For those who "find pleasure in unexpected likeness," this collection of critical essays illuminates the many structural similarities between the two arts, including the use of musical forms (theme and variations, sonata-allegro) in poetry, short fiction, and the novel.

Jonathan Miller, editor, Don Giovanni: Myths of Seduction andBetrayal (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990) The ideal companion volume to viewing or listening to Don Giovanni, hailed by E.T.A. Hoffmann as the "opera of operas." Miller, the brilliant British director of plays and operas, gathers together stimulating essays on the historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological underpinnings of Mozart's and librettist Da Ponte's masterpiece.

Handel/Dryden, Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (CD: Trevor Pinnock/F.nglish Concert, ARC HIV 419 220) For a 1739 celebration of the patron saint of music, Flandel based this magnificent ode on Dryden's poem "Song for St. Cecilia's Day" (1687).

Moxart/Da Ponte, Don Giovanni (CD: Bernard Haitink/ London Philharmonic, 3 ANGEL 47036; Video: Bernard Haitink/Glindebourne Festival production) Enjoy these, as well as the film version of the opera by Joseph Losey '29, which has become a minor cinema classic.

Schubert/Goethe, Lieder (CD: "Complete Schubert Songs, vol. 1: Songs on texts by Goethe and Schiller," Janet Baker, HYPERION 33001) Word-tone synthesis at its best.

Dukas/Goethe, L'Apprenti sorrier (Sorcerer'sApprentice) (CD: Alexander Gibson/Scottish National Orchestra, CHANDOS 6503) Paul Dukas's well-known symphonic poem, based on Goethe's poem "Der Zauberlehrling," was immortalized by Leopold Stokowski and Mickey Mouse in Walt Disney's memorable classic "Fantasia."

Steven Paul Scher