Difficult rhythm : music and the word in E.M. Forster

Bibliographic Information

Difficult rhythm : music and the word in E.M. Forster

Michelle Fillion

University of Illinois Press, c2010

  • : hardcover

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Difficult rhythm : music & the word in E.M. Forster

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [173]-187) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Difficult Rhythm examines E. M. Forster's irrepressible interest in music, providing plentiful examples of how the eminent British author's fiction resonates with music. Musicologist Michelle Fillion analyzes his critical writings, short stories, and novels, including A Room with a View, which alludes to Beethoven, Wagner, and Schumann, and Howards End, which explicitly alerts readers how fiction can adopt musical forms and ideas. This volume also includes, for the first time in print, Forster's notes on Beethoven's piano sonatas. Documenting his knowledge of music, his musical favorites and friends, and his attitudes toward various composers, performances, and competing musical theories, this engaging book traces the musical influences of luminaries such as Wagner, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Britten on Forster's life and work.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations ix List of Musical Examples xiii List of Figures xv Preface xvii 1. E. M. Forster's Life in Music 1 2. "Creating" Lucia: The Voice of Luisa Tetrazzini in Where Angels Fear to Tread 24 3. Wagnerism, "Decadent" Wagnerites, and Wagnerian Motives in The Longest Journey 39 4. "New Woman" or "Piano Girl": Lucy's Music in A Room with a View 56 5. Not Listening to Beethoven and Brahms at the Queen's Hall: Music as Vision in Howards End 79 6. Tchaikovsky and the Deflowering of Masculine Love in Maurice 93 7. "Beethoven's Piano Sonatas" (1939-40) and the Twilight of the Hero 108 8. Claggart's Monologue and the Art of Collaboration in Billy Budd 123 9. Conclusion: Difficult Rhythm, Prophetic Song 138 Appendix A: Forster's Known Ballets Russes Attendance 145 Appendix B: Forster's Known Opera Attendance 146 Notes 151 Works Cited 173 Index 189

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