Discursive Music
Marcel Proust
The Sonate de Vinteuil (or Vinteuil Sonata) is an imaginary violin and piano sonata by fictitious composer Vinteuil recurring several times in Marcel Proust's A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time), particularly in Un Amour De Swann (1913). In the latter volume, Charles Swann associates strong emotions and memories to the melody composed by Vinteuil. The French composer Reynaldo Hahn noticed how much Marcel Proust "vivait la musique de son temps" (experienced contemporary music). For example, Proust immediately praised and enjoyed Debussy's 1902 Pelleas et Melisande opera. Critics disagree on which composer inspired the Sonata. Possibly Gabriel Fauré or César Franck. In Les Plaisirs et les Jours (1896), Proust focusses on Hans Sachs's monologue from Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act II. In Jean Santeuil (1952), a Camille Saint-Saëns Sonata for Violin and Piano (op. 75, 1885) plays a key role and is presumably the model for the Sonate de Vinteuil. In Un Amour De Swann, the Vinteuil Sonata is played during evenings at the Verdurin's by pianist Dechambre. The main character's emotions are mirrored by Proust's musical reminiscences. To readers of La Recherche, the Vinteuil Sonata is as real as any sheet music.
Walter Marchetti
A good example of imaginary music can be found in a Walter Marchetti poem where he mentions a Juan Hidalgo imaginary composition (both Hidalgo and Marchetti were members of the Spanish Zaj Group of Madrid in the late 1950s).
| “ | Eat an iced popsicle and thus perform his free transcription, for only one performer, of Music For Five Dogs, an iced Popsicle and Six Male Performers by Juan Hidalgo. Walter Marchetti in A Zaj Sampler |
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Read more about this topic: Music Without Sound
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