Friday, December 03, 2010

Happy Hannukah

I have been busy with other writing projects this Hannukah season (a piece for viola d'amore and piano based on Thomas Mann's novel Doktor Faustus), so "Hannukah Latkes," will have to suffice for this year as well. Perhaps you remember it from last year? If you are new to the blog, make sure to give it a whirl. It is saturated with true Ashkenaz-American spirit (and is all about oil).

You can download the music (for free, of course) right here.

2 comments:

Marjorie Kransberg Talvi said...

Elaine, I have to admit that I found Doktor Faustus to be a daunting challenge. I love his novels, and really need to better understand the musical references to Faustus. I really look forward to hearing this project of tying the music with the novel. Elaine, you are just an amazing woman.

Elaine Fine said...

I would highly suggest reading the new translation by John E. Woods, and to bear in mind that Mann's musical knowledge comes from musicological works he had on hand, and not from his own musical knowledge. Mann loved music (particularly Wagner), but he wasn't a musician himself. The musicological passages are really intended to inform the non-musician reader, and they contribute little beyond ambiance to the novel.

I would also suggest reading the novel slowly--meaning over a period of time, and to regard many of the details and sub-plots and digressions and descriptions concerning particularly characters the same way you would regard those descriptions in Dickens.