Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Novels:

• Jonathan Miles, Want Not: A Novel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013): “Miles’s message . . . (is) that no one can be thrown away . . . As terrible as we can be, we belong here and we matter and we might even do some good.”
• Luis Alberto Urrea, The House of Broken Angels: A Novel (Little, Brown and Company, 2018): a “highly entertaining story of Big Angel, the de La Cruz family’s patriarch, who buries his mother even as he himself is dying and as his family gathers to celebrate his 70th, and last, birthday.”

From the dark side:

• Katie Kitamura, Intimacies: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2021): “. . . the real heat here, as in Kitamura’s previous novel, 'A Separation' (2017), lies in the author’s abiding interest in the subtleties of human power dynamics.”
• Dawn Winter, Sedating Elaine: A Novel (Knopf, 2022): “. . . Frances owes money to a drug dealer and, with no way of getting it, contrives to have her obnoxiously upbeat, generationally wealthy girlfriend, Elaine, move in with her so she can shake her down for money.”
• Allan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings: A Novel (Random House, 2024): “a Burmese English actor grapples with race and ambition, sexuality and love in a bigoted world.”

Poetry

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – / I keep it, staying at Home – / With a Bobolink for a Chorister – / And an Orchard, for a Dome – 

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice – / I, just wear my Wings – / And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, / Our little Sexton – sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman – / And the sermon is never long, / So instead of getting to Heaven, at last – / I’m going, all along.

[Emily Dickinson, “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church”]

Other poems:

• Edgar Lee Masters, “John Wasson”
• John Keats, “Acrostic: Georgiana Augusta Keats”

From the dark side:

• Edgar Lee Masters, “Sersmith the Dentist”

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma Variations”, Op. 36 (1899) (approx. 27-39’), are short orchestral pieces in honor of various of the composer’s friends. “The people Elgar pictured are close friends and family; there are no famous musicians or influential aristocrats.” He was honoring them for who they were, not what they were, and so was honoring their intrinsic worth, not their value to others. “‘Commenced in a spirit of humor & continued in deep seriousness,’ is how Elgar later described the genesis of the work that would make all the difference in his life.” Best recorded performances are by Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (Elgar) in 1926; New Queens Hall Orchestra (Wood) in 1936; London Symphony Orchestra (Boult) in 1970;  BBC Symphony Orchestra (Bernstein) in 1982; Hallé Orchestra (Elder) in 2002; and Philharmonia Orchestra (Weldon) in 2014.

Along the same lines is Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin (A Piece Written as a Memorial) (1917) (approx. 24-27’). Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of Ravel’s who had died in World War I. Ravel originally composed it for piano: top recorded performances are by: Martha Argerich in 1987; Jean-Yves Thibaudet in 1992; Steven Osborne in 2000; Louis Lortie in 2003; Kathryn Stott in 2014; Bertrand Chamayou in 2016; François-Xavier Poizat in 2024; Stephanie Shih-Yu Cheng; and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in 2025.

Top recorded performances of the orchestral version (1919) (approx. 18-25’) are by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Ansermet) in 1961; Orchestre de Paris (Martinon) in 1975; Boston Symphony Orchestra (Ozawa) in 1975; Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Marriner) in 1982; Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Dutoit) in 1984; Boston Symphony Orchestra (Haitink) in 1998; Cleveland Orchestra (Boulez) in 2001; and Royal Stockholm Philmarmonic Orchestra (Oramo) in 2022. 

Antonín Dvořák, Legends, Op. 59, B. 122 (1881) (approx. 41’) is a tone poem, consisting of ten short idyllic pieces, originally composed for piano four hands, then orchestrated by the composer in the same year. “The set may have been a sequence of meditations on the lives of saints; according to Dvorák's biographer Otakar Sourek, the composer was possibly inspired by Liszt's Legends for piano on the life of St. Francis.” Top performances of the orchestral version are conducted by Kubelik in 1976, Bělohlávek, Fischer in 1999, Măcelaru in 2022, and Netopil in 2024.

Franz Joseph Haydn, String Quartets, Op. 55 (“Tost” quartets, set 2, 1788) (approx. 58-68’), represent a significant shift in tone from Haydn’s Op. 54 quartets, commonly labeled as the first set in his “Tost” series. As in all of his string quartets, Haydn is in the process of exploring the possibilities of interplay between the voices – the expression of their relationship. In these three quartets, as contrasted with those from Op. 54 (“Tost,” set 1), Haydn has progressed from mere respect (as in fairness) to honoring the other.

• Quartet No. 45 in A Major, Op. 55, No. 1, FHE No. 22, Hob. III:60 (approx. 18-19’)
• Quartet No. 46 in F minor (“Razor”), Op. 55, No. 2, FHE No. 23, Hob. III:61 (approx. 25-30’)
• Quartet No. 47 in B flat Major, Op. 55, No. 3, FHE No. 24, Hob. III:62 (approx. 20-26’) 

Haydn, String Quartets, Op. 64 (“Tost” quartets, set 3, 1790) (approx. 112-146’), which are “to Johann Tost, former violinist in the Esterháza orchestra who by this time had become a cloth merchant”, continue the mood, tone and theme of his Op. 55.

• Quartet No. 48 in C Major, Op. 64, No. 1, FHE No. 31, Hob. III:65 (approx. 22-28’)
• Quartet No. 49 in B minor, Op. 64, No. 2, FHE No. 32, Hob. III:68 (approx. 18-25’)
• Quartet No. 50 in B-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3, FHE No. 33, Hob. III:67 (approx. 20-28’)
• Quartet No. 51 in G Major, Op. 64, No. 4, FHE No. 34, Hob. III:66 (approx. 17-23’)
• Quartet No. 53 in D Major, Op. 64, No. 5 (“The Lark”), FHE No. 35, Hob. III:63 (approx. 18-22’)
• Quartet No. 52 in E-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 6, FHE No. 36, Hob. III:64 (approx. 17-20’) 

Other works:

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50, TH 117, “À la mémoire d'un grand artist” (In Memory of a Great Artist) (1882) (approx. 45-48’): the work’s title refers to the subject’s greatness but its personal and elegiac character – in keeping with Tchaikovsky’s personality – makes it about the subject artist’s intrinsic worth.
• Similarly elegiac in character, Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67 (1944) (approx. 26-31’), was inspired by Shostakovich’s friendship with and admiration for Ivan Sollertinsky.
• Gustav Holst, Walt Whitman Overture, Op. 7, H42 (1899) (approx. 7-8’)
• Reynaldo Hahn, Piano Quartet No. 3 in G major (1946) (approx. 24’) was dedicated to Madame Zerline Rochard.
• André Caplet, Le miroir de Jésus (1923) (approx. 61’) (lyrics): fashioned after the Christ narrative and the rosary, this song cycle recounts the story of a life. The work is “based on poems by Henri Ghéon that focus on pivotal incidents in the life of Jesus, as seen from the perspective of the Virgin Mary.” 

Albums:

• Jim Snidero, “Live at the Deer Head Inn” (2021) (56’): “. . . the quartet’s simultaneous awareness of one another, the audience, the jazz tradition and the weight of the present era makes for a spellbinding live recording.”
• Various artists, “Arthur Farwell: America’s Neglected Composer” (2021) (54’): this composer honored Native Americans through music.
• John Jeter & Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra, music of Louis Wayne Ballard (2023) (57’) consists of four of Ballard’s works about Native American life and culture.
• Txai Band, “Txai Band” (2024) (20’): “The idea behind TXAI BAND is to combine the traditional music and poetry of the Huni Kuin with modern Brazilian and Western sounds.”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Bob Marley, “One Love” (lyrics)
• P!nk, "What About Us" (lyrics)

Visual Arts

• Norman Rockwell, Teacher's Birthday: Surprise (1956)

Film and Stage

• Devi, on the impossibility of living up to the image of a goddess (Satyajit Ray’s summary). This film presents the concept of honoring a person’s worth in the negative.