We read books and hear music.

I recently finished reading Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and noticed the interesting role music plays in the novel.  There are a number of musical references throughout the book but the ones that stands out the most are Schubert and Mahler.  Franz Schubert's "Trout" Quintet (1819) and Gustav Mahler's Octet characterize the mood and tone of Joseph Kavalier and Rosa Sack's relationship.  The pieces are the leitmotifs of their love and every time their relationship appears in the pages of the book I hear the romantic melodies of the two pieces in the back of my mind.  Schubert's quintet is a lively piece (written when he was only 22) which seems especially fitting for the relationship of the two characters.  The composition is full of complex harmonies, chromaticism and mediants but can also be seen as a series of variations on the same thematic material- a relevant sonic metaphor for the young couple's relationship.

Today I started reading the Haruki Murakami's latest novel, IQ84. While music often figures prominently in Murakami's work, the use of czech composer Leoš Janáček's, Sinfonietta as a background upon which the author lays out the initial scene particularly struck me.

   

The first lines of IQ84:
"The taxi’s radio was tuned to a classical FM broadcast. Janáček’s Sinfonietta—probably not the ideal music to hear in a taxi caught in traffic. The middle-aged driver didn’t seem to be listening very closely, either. With his mouth clamped shut, he stared straight ahead at the endless line of cars stretching out on the elevated expressway, like a veteran fisherman standing in the bow of his boat, reading the ominous confluence of two currents. Aomame settled into the broad back seat, closed her eyes, and listened to the music".

handwritten score of Fanfare theme

Murakami proceeds to offer the reader a historical backdrop for the composition written in 1926 and makes starts to develop his character Aomame through her reactions to hearing the piece while sitting in a taxi stuck in traffic.  The piece was written for a large orchestra with 25 brass players and the intense timbre and march-like quality of the various themes intensify the claustrophobia of being stuck in traffic that doesn't move.  The reference to this piece serves as a great antithesis or a type of literary foil  to the desires of the character: it's like being urged to start running when you're stuck in a cage.  Then when you learn that Aomame is on her way to assassinate the man she is on her way to meet it adds a whole other dimension to the implications of the sonic accompaniment that introduces the character.  The brass fanfare was dedicated to the 'Czechoslovak Armed Forces' and Janáček said it was intended to express "contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory."  The piece is expressive and festive and it serves as a reflection of the strength and facets that we will discover in Aomame in the pages to come.