We honor a person’s value by commemorating their accomplishments and observing their special quality or character. Small though the honor may be, the artists, scholars, leaders and others whose contributions are offered as exemplary models on this site are being honored in their value.
Real
True Narratives
Shakespeare’s work probably has received more extensive treatment than anyone else’s.
- Garry Wills, Rome and Rhetoric: Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Yale University Press, 2011).
- Garry Wills, Verdi’s Shakespeare: Men of the Theatre (Viking, 2011).
- Andrew McConnell Stott, What Blest Genius? The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare (W.W. Norton & Company, 2019): “ . . . a vivacious portrait of the Stratford-upon-Avon Jubilee of 1769, organized by the actor and manager David Garrick, whose goal was to make a lot of noise for himself and in the process marmorealize Shakespeare.”
- Stuart Kells, Shakespeare’s Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature (Counterpoint, 2019): “Kells goes on a quest through the oddly perverse world of booksellers and bibliographers, in search of Shakespeare’s own tomes.”
Documentary and Educational Films
- Calle 54, a documentary “tribute to Latin jazz”
- Buena Vista Social Club, a documentary tribute to Cuban music and musicians
Imaginary
Visual Arts
- Marc Chagall, Homage to Mozart (1972)
- Salvador Dali, Homage to Erik Satie (1926)
- Georges Braque, Homage to J.S. Bach (1912)
- Gustav Klimt, Schubert at the Piano II (1899)
- Gustav Klimt, Schubert at the Piano I (c. 1896)
- Vasily Perov, Portrait of the Sculptor Vladimir Brovsky
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Richard Wagner (1882)
- Henri Fantin-Latour, A Studio in the Batignolles (Homage to Manet) (1870)
- Henri Fantin-Latour, Homage to Delacroix (1864)
Music: songs and other short pieces
- Dan Fogelberg, Leader of the Band (Dan Fogelberg’s father was a band leader)
- Nawang Khechog, Nobel Peace Laureate, 1989; The Dalai Lama of Tibet
- Schubert, Cantate zum Guberstag des Sängers Michael Vogel (Cantata for the Birthday of the Singer Johann Michael Vogel), D. 666
- Xenakis, À R. (Hommage à Ravel) (1987)
- Villa-Lobos, Hommage à Chopin
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Every composer’s value is honored on the performance of his works. I choose Hugo Wolf to represent this value because the Hugo Wolf Society compiled, and EMI has released an excellent set of his works. The collection includes performances from 1931-1938.
Jazz trumpeter Franz Koglmann is among the most outwardly thoughtful of musicians. He has paid homage to at least two disparate musical figures:
- An Affair With Strauss album
- We Thought About Duke album
Compositions:
- Hindemith, Nobilissima Visione, suite drawn from the ballet Saint Francis (1938), in honor of St. Francis of Assisi
- Howard Hanson commented that his Symphony No. 3, Op. 33 (1941) is a tribute to “the sturdy race of northern pioneers who as early as 1638 founded the first Swedish settlement on the Delaware, and who were in later centuries to constitute such a mighty force in the conquering of the West.”
- Koechlin: The Seven Stars Symphony, Op. 132 (1933)
- Veress, Hommage à Paul Klee (1951)
- La Barbara, 73 Poems of Kenneth Goldsmith
- Halffter, Elegies for the Deaths of 3 Spanish Poets
- Kurtág, Hommage à Robert Schumann, Op. 15D
- Milhaud: Les charmes de la vie (Hommage à Watteau), Op. 360 (1957)
- Panufnik, Hommage à Chopin, for flute and small string orchestra (1966 arrangement of 1949 vocal work)
- Schifrin, Hommage à Ravel (1995): Introduction; Tango; Elegie; Finale.
- Foss, Symphony No. 1 in G Major (1944)
- Getty, The White Election: song cycle set to Emily Dickinson poems
- Foulds, Apotheosis for violin and orchestra (Elegy), Op. 18: composed to honor the violinist Joseph Joachim, after he died
- Chen, Er Huang, for piano & orchestra (2009): based on Peking opera melodies
- John Adams, My Father Knew Charles Ives (2003): I. Concord; II The Lake; 3. The Mountain.
- Atterberg, Symphony No. 1, Op. 3 in B Minor (1910): borrowing from Bruckner and Brahms
- Willson, Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, “The Mission of California”
- Cornysh, Stabat Mater
- Bolcom, Recuerdos(three homages) (1991)
Performances:
- “Interpretations of Monk”: a recording of a live performance on November 1, 1981, at Wollman Auditorium, Columbia University, New York City, featuring pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Barry Harris
Poetry
Poems:
- Pablo Neruda, “Chant to Bolivar”
- John Keats, “Robin Hood”