The Classical Program presents: The Imaginary Work of Art (2.10.15)

Dear Listeners,
Tonight, “the little phrase.” And the world of music, not as heard, but as it read about. We will explore what Alex Ross calls the Imagined Concert and what I argue contributes to the undoing of ekphrasis.

Proust speaks about what comes to be called “the little phrase:” the five note theme of a sonata composed by the fictional composer Vinteuil. But Swann, the man experiencing the music, only later realizes who wrote it. How imaginary could this composer be? Is he a composite based on several actual composers? Is there any merit in attempting to link this musical fiction with an actual piece or composer?

We will be testing fate tonight, and seeing if this is even possible. The program tonight draws on Proust’s possible inspirations including the invented composer Leverkuhn in Mann’s Dr. Faustus, and even the composer in residence featured in (our own) Jerell Randell’s novel, Pictures From an Institution, about an all girls’ liberal arts school. Of course there will be diversions, (Schnittke, Dessau, and Donizetti).

do tune in here,

your lisping disc jockey,
C.S Readick