#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 5

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the fifth and final week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/28/25 Franz Liszt: A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy

This massive work is in two movements and depicts the first two parts of Dante's epic poem: Purgatory and Hell.

 

04/29/25 Franz Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

Liszt's sonata isn't based on Dante's poetry, but rather a Victor Hugo poem reacting to Dante's work “Après une lecture de Dante."

 

04/30/25 Giullaume de Machaut: Remede de Fortune

Machaut was a renowned poet and composer. "Remede de Fortune" combines poetry, song, and drama -- all created by Machaut.

 

Next Month:

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 4, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the fourth week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/21/25 Benjamin Britten: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne

Britten set a selection of John Donne's sonnets after viewing the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1947.

 

04/22/25 Peter Warlock: The Curlew (W.B. Yeats)

Warlock selected four poems by W.B. Yeats for this work. He completed it in 1922, and it was premiered that same year.

 

04/23/25 George Butterworth: Is my team ploughing? (Houseman)

Butterworth set six poems to music from A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad." Butterworth completed the work in 1911. He would go on to set additional poems from the collection.

 

04/24/25 George Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad (Rhapsody for Orchestra)

Butterworth wrote two song cycles based on A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad." His orchestral rhapsody served as an instrumental epilogue to the project. It premiered in 1913.

 

04/25/25 Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge (Houseman)

Vaughan Williams set six poems from A.E. Houseman's "Shropshire Lad" to music. Originally, the songs were for voice and piano. In 1924, Vaughan Williams created a version for voice and orchestra.

 

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 2, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the second week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

04/07/25 Roger Quilter: Three Shakespeare Songs for Baritone and Piano, Op. 6

Quilter's 1905 set features "Come away, death" and "O Mistress mine" from "Twelfth Night," and "Blow, blow thou winter wind" from "As You Like It."

04/08/25 Johannes Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53

This 1869 work sets verses from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Harzreise im Winter." The poem describes the Harz mountain covered in snow, which Brahsm interpreted metaphorically.   

04/09/25 Felix Mendelssohn: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage

Mendelssohn based his tone poem on a pair of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In the age before steam, calm seas were dangerous -- only when strong winds could a voyage continue.

04/10/25 Krzystof Pendericki: Symphony No. 8 (Lieder der Vergänglichkeit) 

This 2005 work uses the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hermann Hesse, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Achim von Arnim.

04/11/25 Franz Lehár: Friederike

This 1928 operetta was inspired by John Wolfgang Goethe's poem "Heidenröslein." The work tells the story of Goethe's doomed love for Friderike, who sacrifices her love for the poet's career.  

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 1, 2025

 April is Poetry Month. The Classics a Day challenge for April is to post examples of classical music inspired by poetry. The most obvious cases are poems set to music. But sometimes, inspiration runs deeper. 

Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth.

4/1/25 Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs

These a cappella works were originally written in 1951 as test pieces for a choral competition. Two songs are from "The Tempest," the third from "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

 

4/2/25 Aaron Copland: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson

Copland composed this cycle in 1950, each poem was dedicated to a different friend. In 1970, Copland finished an orchestral arrangement of this work.

 

4/3/25 Franz Schubert: Du bist di Ruh (Friedrich Ruckert)

Friedrich Ruckert was one of the most popular poets in 1800s Germany. Many composers set his poems to music -- including Franz Schubert.

 

4/4/25 Robert Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Joseph von Eichendorff)

Eichendorff was a popular novelist and poet of the Romantic Era. His poems were often incorporated into his novels, sung by the protagonists. Schumann's cycle is taken from a collection of Eichendorff poems, "Intermezzo."

 

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth 2022 Week 4

What's the connection between classical music and poetry? To celebrate Poetry Month, the Classics a Day team encouraged folks to find out. For the month of April, the challenge is to post poetry used in classical music or works inspired by poetry.

Here are my posts for the final week of #PoetryMonth

4/25/22 Ralph Vaughan Williams - Three Shakespeare Songs

Vaughan Willaims completed this work in 1951. The set was originally composed as test pieces for the UK's National Competitive Festival for choirs.

 

4/26/22 Andre Previn - Three Dickinson Songs for Soprano and Piano

Previn composed this cycle in 2000 for Renée Fleming, who premiered the work. 

 

4/27/22 Amy Beach - By the Still Waters, Op. 114

Beach published this work in 1925. It's inspired by Psalm 23, which also provides the title. 

 

4/28/22 Augusta Read Thomas - Two E. E. Cummings Songs

These settings of cummings' poetry were commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus. The chorus premiered the work in 2008. 

 

4/29/22 Maurice Greene: Spenser's Amoretti

Greene was master of the king's Musick beginning in 1735. "Amoretti" is a setting of 25 sonnets by Edmund Spenser, and published in 1739. 

Next Month:

#ClassicsaDay has usually marked May Day by making the May theme Soviet Composers. Not this year.

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth 2022 Week 3

What's the connection between classical music and poetry? To celebrate Poetry Month, the Classics a Day team encouraged folks to find out. For the month of April, the challenge is to post poetry used in classical music or works inspired by poetry.

Here are my posts for the third week of #PoetryMonth

4/18/22 Igor Stravinsky - Three Songs from William Shakespeare

Stravinsky set three Shakespeare poems in 1953 using a serial technique. The music cycles through a set of notes in order. The first song only uses four notes.

4/19/22 Arthur Sullivan - Incidental Music to Shakespeare's Henry VIII

Gilbert and Sullivan may have been the rage, but Arthur Sullivan wrote music for "serious" theater and operas. His music for this Shakespearean play was first published in 1877.

4/20/22 Zdenek Fibich - Othello, Symphonic Poem after Shakespeare, Op. 6

Bedřich Smetana conducted the premiere of this work in 1873. The tone poem focuses on the play's three main characters -- Othello, Desdemona, and Iago.

4/21/22 Alexander Lokshin - Symphony No. 5, "Shakespeare's Sonnets"

Lokshin composed his "symphony with a voice" in 1969. The sonnets were translated into Russion by Boris Pasternak, author of "Doctor Zhivago."

4/22/22 Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Shakespeare Sonnets, Op. 125

Castelnuovo-Tedesco considered Shakespeare's poetry "perfectly musical: it unites the spiritual subtlety of English with the sonorous splendour of Italian."

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth 2022 Week 2

What's the connection between classical music and poetry? To celebrate Poetry Month, the Classics a Day team encouraged folks to find out. For the month of April, the challenge is to post poetry used in classical music or works inspired by poetry.

Here are my posts for the second week of #PoetryMonth

4/11/22 Sergei Prokofiev - Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova for Soprano and Piano, Op. 27

She's now considered one of Russia's most important poets. But during the Stalin years, Akmatova was considered an enemy of the state, and her poetry was only circulated in secret.

4/12/22 John Tavener - Akhmatova Songs

Tavener's work collects poems from across Akmatova's career. He had previously set her Requiem, using a spare, Eastern Orthodox-inspired style.

4/13/22 Roger Quilter - Three Songs of William Blake, Op. 20

Quilter focused his compositional efforts primarily on artsongs. Quilter publshed his "Three Songs" in 1917. Included were "Dream Valley," "The Wild Flower's Song," and "Daybreak."

4/14/22 Benjamin Britten - Songs and Proverbs of William Blake

Britten composed this work in 1965. Peter Pears selected the text, and the cycle was premired by Britten and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

4/15/22 Hubert Parry - Jerusalem

Parry set William Blake's poem in 1916. It became an instant hit as a patriotic anthem during the First World I.

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 1, 2022

What's the connection between classical music and poetry? To celebrate Poetry Month, the Classics a Day team encouraged folks to find out. For the month of April, the challenge is to post poetry used in classical music or works inspired by poetry.

Here are my posts for the first week of #PoetryMonth

 

04/04/22 George Crumb - Ancient Voices of Children

Crumb set the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca in 1970. It pushed the boundaries of vocal technique. And it features Crumb's boundary-pushing and quite beautiful musical notation.

04/05/22 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Hiawatha's Wedding Feast

Coleridge-Taylor's most popular work was the first of his three Hiawatha cantatas. The text was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "Song of Hiawatha."

04/06/22 John Adams - The Wound-Dresser

Walt Whitman's poem was based on his experiences as a hospital volunteer during the Civil War. Adams set the poem to music in 1989.

02/07/22 Franz Schubert - Erlkönig

Schubert set Goethe's poem when he was 18. By some accounts, he composed this iconic lieder in just a few hours.

02/08/22 Ralph Vaughan Williams - Toward the Unknown Region

Vaughan Williams set several texts by Walt Whitman. This 1907 cantata was based on Whitman's poem "Darest Thou Now O Soul." The title comes from the poem's second line.

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth - Week 4

What's the connection between classical music and classic poetry? That was theme some of us decided to explore with #ClassicsaDay. For April 2018 we posted examples of settings of poetry in classical music, works inspired by poetry, and more. Here's an annotated list of the works I posted for the last week of #PoetryMonth.

Gerald Finzi - 7 Partsongs, Op. 17
(Poetry by Robert Bridges)

Robert Bridges was a major literary figure in early 20th Century Britain. He was Poet Laureate from 1913-1930 and wrote verse drams, hymns, and prose as well as poetry. Gerald Finzi set seven Bridges poems for unaccompanied singers. He completed the work in 1937.

Samuel Barber - Music for a Scene from Shelley, Op. 7
(Prometheus Unbound - Percy Bysshe Shelly)

"Prometheus Unbound" was first published in 1820. Shelley's four-act lyrical drama was completed in Italy. Over a century later, while in Italy, Samuel Barber composed his tone poem. The immediate inspiration was the same scenery that purportedly inspired Shelley, and the lines from the poem to hear "voices in the air."

Elliott Carter - Scrivo in Vento
(Sonnet 212 "Beato in sogno" - Francesco Petrarch)

The 14th Century Italian poet Petrarch is considered one of the first humanist poets. His works greatly influenced poets for over 200 years. In 1993 Elliott Carter wrote "Scrivo in vento." The structure and the rhythmic shape of the work are based on that of Petrarch's Sonnet 212.

Guillaume de Machaut - Plourés dames
(Le voir dit - Guillaume de Machaut)

Guillaume de Machaut was not only considered one of the most important composers of his time, he was also regarded as one of its greatest poets. "Plourés dames" is one of many parts of his 1325 poem "Le voir dit" Machaut set to music. Although the poem is represented as "a true story," Machaut gives the reader plenty of clues to the contrary.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes - The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8
(Kubla Khan; or, a Vision in a Dream: A Fragment - Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Although completed in 1797, Coleridge's poem wasn't published until 1816. The work was inspired by the poet's visions while taking opium. "Kubla Khan" celebrates a highly romanticized version of Orientalism that was in vogue at the time. Charles Thomlinson Griffes wrote his tone poem in 1912. The music came to Griffes in a dream, and its impressionist score became one of his most popular compositions.

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth - Week 2

What's the connection between classical music and classic poetry? That was theme some of us decided to explore with #ClassicsaDay. For April 2018 we posted examples of settings of poetry in classical music, works inspired by poetry, and more. Here's an annotated list of the works I posted for the first week of #PoetryMonth.

Gustav Mahler - Rückert-Lieder
(Poetry - Friedrich Rückert)

Mahler set four of Rückert's poems in 1901. The last movement was finished a year later. The songs were published as a set in 1910. Although the songs were not conceived of as a cycle, they're often performed that way.Friedrich Ruckert (1788-1866) was a popular poet for German composers. Schumann, Zemlinsky, Wolf, and Strauss also set his poems to music.

Pierre Boulez - Le Marteau sans maître
(Le Marteau sans maître - René Char)

Boulez's landmark work was based on poems from René Char's 1930 Le Marteau sans maître. The elliptical imagery of the poems ("the pendulum throws its instinctive load of granite") is matched by the music. Boulez' multi-layered serialism created a work that only begins to reveal itself after multiple hearings.

Aaron Copland - Eight Poems by Emily Dickenson
(Poetry by Emily Dickenson)

Copland wrote his song cycle "Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson" in 1950. It was for voice and piano. In 1955, he orchestrated eight of them. Copland was careful to follow the rhythm of Dickinson's rhymes, letting the structure of each poem determines the direction of the music.

Claudio Monteverdi - Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
(Gerusalemme Liberata - Torquato Tasso)

Torquato Tasso was one of the most important Italian poets of the Renaissance. His 1574 poem Gerusalemme liberata would inspire composers for the next three centuries. One of the earliest adaptors of Tasso's poem was Claudio Monteverdi. He set a climactic scene from the poem in 1624.

John Adams - The Wound-Dresser
(The Wound-Dresser - Walt Whitman)

Walt Whitman wrote "The Wound-Dresser" in 1865. The imagery comes from the time Whitman spent as a volunteer corpsman for the Union Army. Adams finished his setting of this poem in 1989.

 

#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth - Week 1

What's the connection between classical music and classic poetry? That was theme some of us decided to explore with #ClassicsaDay. For April 2018 we posted examples of settings of poetry in classical music, works inspired by poetry, and more. Here's an annotated list of the works I posted for the first week of #PoetryMonth.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Hiawatha's Wedding Feast
(Song of Hiawatha - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

The 1898 cantata "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" was Coleridge-Taylor's most popular work. He wrote two additional cantatas based on Longfellow's poem, "The Death of Minnehaha" (1899) and "Hiawatha's Departure" (1900). Coleridge-Taylor also composed a concert overture for the cantata cycle. All four parts were published as "The Song of Hiawatha" Op. 30.

Ralph Vaughn Williams - On Wenlock Edge
(A Shropshire Lad - Alfred Edward Housman)

Houseman's 1896 volume "A Shropshire Lad" features 63 poems. Vaughan Williams was but one of many British composers to set Houseman's poems to music. "On Wenlock Edge" consists of six poems from the collection. The work was originally composed for tenor, piano and string quartet in 1909.

 

Franz Schubert - Der Erlkönig, D.328
(Erlkönig - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Gothe originally wrote this 1782 poem for a Singspiel. Although Schuber's 1815 lied is the best-known, it's not alone. Many composers of the early Romantic era also set the poem to music.

Franz Liszt - Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata
(The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri)

The final version of the "Dante" Sonata was first published in 1858. The much shorter original was composed in the late 1830s. The sonata presents thematic impressions of Dante's Inferno, including extensive use of the tritone (the "devil's interval"). Liszt also composed a Dante Symphony around the same time, based on the "Inferno" and "Purgatorio."

Claude Debussy - L'après-midi d'un faune
(L'après-midi d'un faune - Stéphane Mallarmé)

The symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé was a favorite of French impressionist composers. Ravel, Debussy, and Milhaud set his poems to music.