Edgar Allan Poe and music

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Edgar Allan Poe
Biography
Death
Bibliography
In popular culture
In music
In television and film
Dark romanticism
Edgar Awards

The influence of Edgar Allan Poe on the art of music has been considerable and long-standing, with the works, life and image of the horror fiction writer and poet inspiring composers and musicians from diverse genres for more than a century.

Artists influenced by Poe

Leon Botstein, conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra—which presented a program of "Tales From Edgar Allan Poe" in 1999—noted that in the realm of classical music, as in literature, Poe's influence was felt more deeply in Europe than in America.

The post-hardcore band Chiodos cites Poe as one of their inspirations for lyrics from their third CD, entitled Bone Pallace Ballet.

Italian rocknoir band Belladonna regards Poe as their main inspiration and have included a line from Ligeia in the booklet of their debut album, entitled Metaphysical Attraction.

Dedications to Poe

The thrash metal band Annihilator dedicated one song to Poe's short tale "Ligeia" in their debut album Alice in Hell (1989)

The song "Allan" by French singer Mylène Farmer from her album Ainsi Soit Je... (1988) is dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe.

Voltaire's song "Graveyard Picnic" is dedicated to Poe, and includes in the lyrics references to Poe's works, such as The Conqueror Worm, Lenore, Annabel Lee, and The Tell-Tale Heart, as well as mentioning Poe by name. He would also set Poe's poem "The Conqueror Worm" to music in his 2014 album Raised by Bats.

Works about Poe himself

Québécois artist Jean Leloup has a song "Edgar" depicting, in a somewhat humorous way, the last times of Edgar Allan Poe, on his landmark album Le Dôme (1996).

In the West End musical, Snoopy!!! The Musical, a musical number in act one is titled "Edgar Allan Poe". In the song, some characters are worried that their teacher is going to ask them something about Edgar Allan Poe, who they know nothing about, while other characters list facts and titles by Poe.

In the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, Poe is referenced heavily in the lyrics of Austria's song "Who the Hell Is Edgar?" by duo Teya and Salena.

In May 2023 singers Teya and Salena represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Who the Hell Is Edgar?". The song title being a reference Poe and the song a satire of the music industry and the difficulties of being a lyricist, who are usually paid very little.

Multiple-work adaptations

The American composer James Poulsen composed "Five Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" for medium high voice and piano in 1986. The song cycle was orchestrated in 1998 with a commission from Jack and Dawn Taylor of Des Moines, Iowa. The Des Moines Symphony premiered the work in 1999 with Robin Roewe, tenor. The poems in the set are: 'Alone', 'Evening Star', Hymn', 'A Dream', and 'To One in Paradise.' Poulsen has also set a letter of Poe, a letter of Maria Clemm, and the valentine poem of Virginia Poe to music.

In 1976, the British art rock group the Alan Parsons Project released a full album, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, based on Poe's stories and poems. Opening with an instrumental named for Poe's poem "A Dream Within a Dream", the album features songs based on "The Raven", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" (which was a Top 40 hit) and "To One in Paradise", as well as a five-part rock symphony called "The Fall of the House of Usher". Producer and engineer Alan Parsons released a remixed version of the album in 1987, featuring narration by Orson Welles; executive producer Eric Woolfson revisited the concept in a 2003 stage musical [Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination].
Also, in their 1980 album The Turn of a Friendly Card, there is an instrumental song called "The Gold Bug".

Michael Romeo from Symphony X recorded an instrumental album called The Dark Chapter where has several songs inspired from Edgar Allan Poe including "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Premature Burial", and "The Masque of the Red Death". Symphony X would later include a reference to Poe's A Dream Within A Dream in the song "Through the Looking Glass" from the album Twilight in Olympus. Also the song "King of Terrors" from the album The Odyssey is based on and features quotes from Poe's story The Pit and the Pendulum.

The tribute album Closed on Account of Rabies produced by Hal Willner was released in 1997, with musicians and actors such as Jeff Buckley and Christopher Walken reading Poe's works with background music.

Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra recorded an album of songs based on Poe's work. The album, Poe for Moderns, was recorded by the jazz ensemble at Webster Hall in New York in 1960 and includes the following tracks: "The Murders In The Rue Morgue", "Annabel Lee", "The Gold Bug", "A Descent Into The Maelstrom", "The Bells", "The Fall Of The House Of Usher", "The Pit And The Pendulum", "Ulalume", "The Black Cat", "The Raven", and "Quoth The Raven/The Tell-Tale Heart."

Cuban musician Silvio Rodríguez has several songs on Poe, including "Trova de Edgardo" (1992), on the album Silvio.

Single-work adaptations

Main articles: Allusions to Poe's "The Raven", Annabel Lee § Adaptations, A Dream Within a Dream § Adaptations, The Bells (poem) § Adaptations, The Masque of the Red Death § Adaptations, The Masque of the Red Death in popular culture, The Tell-Tale Heart § Adaptations, The Fall of the House of Usher § In other media, The City in the Sea § Adaptations and influence, and The Pit and the Pendulum § Adaptations

Ligeia

Another opera based on stories by Poe is Ligeia, a 1994 opera by Augusta Read Thomas.

Israfel

Leonard Bernstein set "Israfel" as part of his song cycle for voices and orchestra, Songfest.

The British and American composer Tarik O'Regan uses portions of Poe's poem Israfel as the basis of his 2006 composition The Ecstasies Above for voices and string quartet.

Dream Within A Dream

Pop singer Britney Spears named her 2001-2002 concert tour the Dream Within a Dream Tour, incorporating lines from that poem (and other Poe works) into her show.

The blues/rock band, The Yardbirds, adapted The second stanza (and a portion of the first) of Poe's "Dream within a Dream" to music.

Classical music

In 1907, American composer Grace Chadbourne set Poe's text to music with her "Hymn for Solo Voice: At Morn, at Noon, at Twilight Dim."

The Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara based his 1997 choral fantasy "On the Last Frontier" on the final two paragraphs of Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

A ballet based on a story by Poe is Hop-Frog, a 2009 ballet by Terry Brown.

The American composer Dominick Argento wrote an opera, based on the death of Poe.

Greek composer Dionysis Boukouvalas set Poe's sonnet To Zante to music in 2001. Zante (or Zakynthos) is Boukouvalas's native island. After a revision of the work in 2012, it was premiered at the very same island with the composer at the piano, sung by soprano Andriana Lykouresi.

The American conductor and composer Adam Stern wrote a setting of Poe's early poem "Spirits of the Dead", subtitled "rhapsody for narrator and orchestra." The work received its world premiere in Seattle in October, 2014. Edmund Stone was the narrator, and the composer led the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra.

Popular music

Pop music

• When the Beatles compiled images for the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967, one of the most recognizable faces was that of Poe, in the center of the top row. In the same year, John Lennon wrote his famous nonsensical work "I Am the Walrus", which contained the lines, "Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna/Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe."
• Chamber pop band Antony and the Johnsons released a three-track EP titled The Lake in 2004 via Secretly Canadian Records. The eponymous title track is a musical rendition of Poe's poem of the same name.
• Scarlet's Well's fifth album Black Tulip Wings (2006) features musical settings of "To One In Paradise" and "Evening Star".
• In 2017, French pop/celtic singer Nolwenn Leroy has set Poe's poems "A Dream" and "The Lake" to music, released on her album Gemme.

Rock, punk, and alternative

• The American rock band The Smithereens released a song called "William Wilson", based on the Poe story of the same name, on their 1989 album 11.
• In late 2010, German Krautrock group Tangerine Dream recorded an album titled The Island of the Fay, which was released via online shops on March 18, 2011. The album was recorded by Edgar Froese and Thorsten Quaeschning, and introduces a guest electric violinist. The short story which the album is based upon, "The Island of the Fay", will be included in the album's liner notes.
• Trevor Tanner, via Emperor Penguin Recordings, released an Apple iTunes, Digital 45, entitled "The Ballad Of Edgar Allan Poe" on July 13, 2011.
• Los Angeles band, Edgar Allan Poets, is creating rock music inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock. The Band wrote in 2012 the song "Crow Girl" inspired by "The Tell Tale Heart".
• The Starcrawler track ""Bet My Brains", off their 2019 album Devour You, was inspired by Poe's short story "Never Bet the Devil Your Head".

Metal

• Iron Maiden recorded a song titled "Murders in the Rue Morgue" for their second album, 1981's Killers.
• Avant-garde metal band Arcturus have a song on the album La Masquerade Infernale (1997) called "Alone" incorporating the full, unaltered text of Poe's poem "Alone".
• The band Odes Of Ecstasy on their second album Deceitful Melody (2000) incorporates the full text of "The Conqueror Worm" under the title of "Abstract Thoughts."
• The song "From Childhood's Hour" from Norwegian progressive metal band Circus Maximus is based on Poe's poem "Alone". Most parts of the lyrics are nearly identical to the poem itself.
• German funeral doom metal band Ahab has set Poe's poem "Evening Star" to music. It is present in the deluxe re-release of their 2012 album The Giant.
• "A Dream of Poe" is a gothic doom metal band that is heavily inspired by Poe's work

Rap and Hip-Hop

• Edgar Allan Poe was pitted against Stephen King in 2013 in Epic Rap Battles of History's Season 3 episode "Stephen King vs Edgar Allan Poe."

Other genres

• Greek-Cypriot songwriter and singer Alkinoos Ioannidis has written a song entitled "Edgar Allan Poe", recorded in the album O Dromos, O Hronos Kai O Ponos.

See also

For his influence on other media:

• Edgar Allan Poe in television and film

For his appearances as a fictional character:

• Edgar Allan Poe in popular culture

References

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