Lovecraft and music

[Extollager]

I'm wondering if any record survives of Lovecraft having heard the music of Sibelius. I don't know that there's any music from HPL's lifetime that seems "Lovecraftian" to me. But Sibelius's "Tapiola," from the mid-Twenties, could have been an effort to distill the essence of Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo" into about 20 minutes of sound. Sibelius himself wrote these lines to accompany the tone poem:

Widespread they stand, the Northland's dusky forests,
Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams;
Within them dwells the forest's mighty god,
And wood-sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets.

An EMI Classics CD (CDM 7 64331 2) with Herbert von Karajan conducting this piece plus Finlandia, The Swan of Tuonela, Eng Saga, and Karelia Suite, is a good place to encounter "Tapiola" (the title means "the place of Tapio," the forest-lord).

It would have been interesting to know if Lovecraft liked the largo ("Landscape") from Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antarctica (Symphony #7), which I recommend in the Previn recording (London Symphony Orchestra). Perhaps he would have felt some kinship with his own At the Mountains of Madness. But it dates to after HPL's death. You should play this fairly loud your first time out.

I think Sibelius may have been quite popular in the US in the Twenties and later. If there's anyone reading this who's moved to try more after hearing "Tapiola," you might try the 4th Symphony next.

 

[j d worthington]

I would have to look the reference up but, as I recall, Lovecraft stated on occasion that he was largely unmoved by classical music, save for specific instances, and even there usually as much or more for associational reasons rather than the music itself. His experience with his violin lessons rather soured him on classical music, and most of his favorite pieces were popular tunes of his youth; folk songs, barber-shop ballads, and the like....

However, I'll see if I can find something on Sibelius, just in case....

 

[Ningauble]

I'm wondering if any record survives of Lovecraft having heard the music of Sibelius. I don't know that there's any music from HPL's lifetime that seems "Lovecraftian" to me. But Sibelius's "Tapiola," from the mid-Twenties, could have been an effort to distill the essence of Algernon Blackwood's "The Wendigo" into about 20 minutes of sound. Sibelius himself wrote these lines to accompany the tone poem:

Widespread they stand, the Northland's dusky forests,
Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams;
Within them dwells the forest's mighty god,
And wood-sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets.

An EMI Classics CD (CDM 7 64331 2) with Herbert von Karajan conducting this piece plus Finlandia, The Swan of Tuonela, Eng Saga, and Karelia Suite, is a good place to encounter "Tapiola" (the title means "the place of Tapio," the forest-lord).

It would have been interesting to know if Lovecraft liked the largo ("Landscape") from Vaughan Williams's Sinfonia Antarctica (Symphony #7), which I recommend in the Previn recording (London Symphony Orchestra). Perhaps he would have felt some kinship with his own At the Mountains of Madness. But it dates to after HPL's death. You should play this fairly loud your first time out.

I think Sibelius may have been quite popular in the US in the Twenties and later. If there's anyone reading this who's moved to try more after hearing "Tapiola," you might try the 4th Symphony next.

Dirk Mosig wrote an article on Lovecraft and Sibelius once; I think he concluded that there is no evidence that Lovecraft ever heard Sibelius, but that the music is indeed a bit Lovecraftian.

 

[j d worthington]

Dirk Mosig wrote an article on Lovecraft and Sibelius once; I think he concluded that there is no evidence that Lovecraft ever heard Sibelius, but that the music is indeed a bit Lovecraftian.

*click!* Thank you, Martin, for jogging my memory. I knew there was some reason why the connection sounded familiar, but couldn't quite place it. The essay is titled "Lovecraft and Sibelius", and can be found in his Mosig at Last: A Psychologist Looks at H. P. Lovecraft. It is brief, but I think you'd find it of interest, Dale. If you'd like, I'll try to get a copy of this to you....

 

[Extollager]

Sibelius must be the composer for fantasists. The late Benedikt Benedikz is my authority, I believe, for Tolkien's fondness for the great Finn's music, and C. S. Lewis wrote about Sibelius in at least one letter. Lovecraft's illustrator Hannes Bok was, if I'm not mistaken, a huge fan of Sibelius. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other examples. I'd be very interested in that Mosig essay! Thanks.

 

[J-WO]

I'm gonna go ask my mum if she's got any Sibelius in her collection, now.

 

[Extollager]

I don't mean to turn this thread on Lovecraft And Music to a thread on Sibelius, but I'll suggest that, if there are people here who aren't familiar with his music who've become interested because of the fantasy angle, these major orchestral works would be ones to look into:

1.Tapiola, as explained above -- I recommend Karajan as conductor
2.The Lemminkainen Cycle/Four Legends from the Kalevala (which includes "The Swan of Tuonela" -- Tuoni being the god of the dead, as I recall) -- there's a nice recording conducted by Paavo Jarvi
3.Pohjola's Daughter

I'll restrain myself from getting into the symphonies, for which he's probably best known, aside from "Finlandia."

Trivia: Another composer with relevance to fantasy is Alan Hovhaness (Symphony #2 Mysterious Mountain, etc.). I just learned that Sibelius was godfather to Hovhaness's baby daughter. And, following up on an earlier posting -- not only was artist Hannes Bok a fan of Sibelius's, it seems they corresponded.

 

[Extollager]

PS about the Vaughan Williams Sinfonia Antarctica: I recommended the Previn recording. I'm sure it is good. But the one I actually had in my mind was Haitink's, which is available used at Amazon for just a few dollars.

 

[J-WO]

Cheers, Extollager. I'll look into this. I already listen to Vaughn Williams when I'm typing away- Sibelius seems like the next logical step.

 

[J Riff]

Well, he reportedly liked cowboy songs...so Sibelius is a natural uhh counterfoil to that.

 

[Extollager]

If, as is unlikely, HPL ever heard Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, he wouldn't have liked it, I suppose; but if I were doing a documentary about HPL and the portion on "The Call of Cthulhu, with its frantic cults stuff, arrived, I'd probably cue in some of that 1913 music.

 

[J Riff]

Ohhh I dunno...I bet he would have liked Rite of Spring, it's fabulous. Might not have been so keen on the Firebird or Petroushka.

 

[j d worthington]

Given his opinion of modernism in the arts... Le sacre du printemps would almost certainly have earned a very scornful response from him. L'Oiseau de feu, on the other hand, might just possibly have received a more favorable hearing, given the association with traditional fairy tales... something for which he always had a soft spot. In general, though, he had a blind spot when it came to classical music, which he blamed (at least in part) on those two years of enforced practice on the violin.

Those old barber-shop tunes, however....

 

[J-WO]

'Hello mah baby,

Hello mah darlin'

Hello mah goodtime ghoul....'

 

[j d worthington]

'Hello mah baby,

Hello mah darlin'

Hello mah goodtime ghoul....'

*tsk, tsk* "Hello my ragtime ghoul...."

Apparently, HPL and some of his friends used to (in Joshi's words) "caterwaul" these things by the hour when he was in his teens....

 

[dask]

Ummm ---

Five foot two
Eyes of blue...
Could she, could she, could she chew?

 

[j d worthington]

From what I gather, there were a few classical pieces of which HPL was fond. He liked Wagner (parts of the Ring cycle) for instance; but, again, it was as much association as the actual music. He also enjoyed ballads when he was young, and had at least an intellectual appreciation of their place when he was older.

When it comes to the barbershop tunes, however, though he may not have ever sung them again once he was a full-fledged adult, he could rattle off a lengthy list of them (and remember which ones were popular when) even very late in life....

 

[J Riff]

If alive today, who would he plunk for? Creed? Yanni? Something even worse, darker.... Willie Nelson?

 

[neuroticdog]

It's early days for my Lovecraft experience having only completed about two thirds of the Penguin edition of The Dreams in the Witch House but, from a musical perspective, is anyone here a fan of musique concret or acousmatic music? I ask because I listen to this stuff...alot, and I feel that it lends itself perfectly to a Lovecraft vibe.

Names like Bernard Parmegini, Francois Bayle, Francis Dhomont, Luc Ferrari, Pierre Henry or some of the younger folks like Denis Smalley, Robert Normandeau, Adrian Moore and many others associated with the Canadian label empreintes DIGITALes. This is music, not in the sense of do-re-mi/traditional harmonic theory but something that can be described as organized sound, often put together from disparate elements such as environmental sounds, industrial sounds...everyday kitchen sink sounds, heavily processed and organized into an often thematic piece of music.

The results of many of these composers efforts are quite Lovecraftian in terms of eerie, creepy, moody and generally dark atmospheric pieces of music. Best to listen to with headphones in a darkened room, there is definitely some macabre cinema for the brain to be mined here.

I would be happy to give more specific examples if this piques anyone's interest.

best
Michael

 

[J-WO]

To be honest, my only link to Musique concret is Deborah Derbyshire (Or is it Devonshire? Can't remember...), the lady who made the original Doctor Who theme tune and a lot of other cool stuff besides. But if she's any indicator, I see what you mean. Certainly, a Lovecraftian film that used a concret soundtrack would both be different and eerily effective.