This month’s Composer Study explores music inspired by literature.

I am borrowing heavily from our local orchestra’s study this month, and throwing in a few ideas of my own:

We start off with Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, the only music for ballet which he composed, in 1801. It is his longest work for piano solo.

If you can see the ballet performance itself, I think that would be an awesome addition to this study. A few years ago a college 2 hours from us offered this production; unfortunately we didn’t get to see it.

You can listen to the piece at rhapsody.com or at emusic.com. I’m removing the rhapsody.com suggestion because of problematic elements/disturbing material at the website.

Or watch this Google video of a live performance.

For those who enjoy Greek mythology, you can read the story of Prometheus in the D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths.

Those with younger kids might want to try The Greek Gods by Hoopes and Eyslin. There’s a page there with Prometheus’ pic that might be used as a coloring page by littles as they listen to a Prometheus-read-aloud, or to Jim Weiss’ Heroes in Mythology.

The Bulfinch version is available at Bartleby.com — high school and up, and offers some good material for discussion. Advanced students may want to tackle Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound.

William Bennett in The Moral Compass (p. 408) has a version of the story. I like that he provides a Christian perspective on mythology. Another retelling we enjoyed is Robert Graves’ Greek Gods and Heroes.

After you’ve read the story of Prometheus, the kids may want to put together their own “dance” — if you have a ballet dancer or two around the house, here’s a great way to try out their skills! Listen to the music and see where you can incorporate elements of the Prometheus’ story. The beginning is very dramatic, so if you’ve got several children, one of them could be Prometheus, another could be the angry Zeus. More children could be the creatures that Prometheus “makes from clay”, so they could start out really low on the ground and rise up as they are “created”. Pay attention to the sequences of highs and lows, the crescendos/crescendi and diminuendos and make corresponding distinctions in your dance.

Here’s a short description (from program notes from the U of Calif-Berkeley) that may provide you with more ideas as you make up your own ballet:

The plot of the ballet, attributed to Vigano, is as follows: Prometheus creates man and woman from clay and water, and brings them to life with a brand of fire stolen from the sun. He has adapted in them the best qualities of various animals, but failing to give them reasoning powers, he decides to destroy them. Apollo, the god of the arts, intervenes, and the creatures are led to Parnassus, where they become acquainted with music. Apollo then entrusts the furthering of their education to his wards, the Muses. Melpomene (Muse of Tragedy) provides the experience of tragic emotions, while Thalia (Muse of Comedy) teaches them to laugh. Terpsichore (Muse of Dance) teaches them her art, and Bacchus introduces them to the pleasures of wine and frolic. As their education is rounded off, the creatures finally begin to appreciate the beauties of nature; with one last solemn dance, they are sent to embark on the journey of life.

For older children or those who can handle these types of artwork, here are several artists’ renditions of Prometheus:

Nicolas-Sebastien Adam’s
Dirck van Baburen’s
Jacob Jordaens’
Piero di Cosimo’s
Pieter Pauwel Rubens’, a collaborative work with other painters

Read about Beethoven using Mike Venezia’s book, or Roland Vernon’s.

Here’s a previous Beethoven thread at 4real.

We’ve actually done several Beethoven or Beethoven-related studies at 4Real, and here are the links:

April Composer – For the Birds!
May Composer

There are a couple other threads that I found but I’m either encountering a glitch or that part of the forum is closed right now.

Classics for Kids, of course, has had several shows about Beethoven.

I almost forgot, Vox Classics’ The Story of Beethoven gives you both music and story on one CD!

You want more Beethoven? Beethoven’s Wig and Beethoven Lives Upstairs are both 4Real favorites!

It may be interesting to compare Beethoven’s work with Karl Goldmark’s. Or Lizst’s symphonic poem “Prometheus”. Here’s a DVD that contains several Prometheus-inspired works! I hope our library has it! Another possibility — Haydn’s “The Creation”.

Those who would like to try their hand at playing The Creatures of Prometheus can get the complete score here. Here’s a downloadable one for violin.

Need a beginner’s book/refresher about the orchestra? Check out Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine et al. Oooh, one more thing I almost forgot! My most recent find, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers (caveat: I got this book for dd-16 and me, but I’ve only read bits and pieces of it, so I cannot say for certain if there is any anti-Catholic content — just FYI).

Possible Rabbit Trails:

– for Trekkies, and/or spacecraft enthusiasts: look up the USS Prometheus Starfleet tactical vessel

– Study the planet Saturn, which has two tiny moons called Prometheus and Pandora. They are called “shepherding moons” because their combined gravity keeps this ring on a path that is only 60 miles wide.

– Read about the element Pm – Prometheum — a synthetic rare earth element made in nuclear accelerators and nuclear reactors. No trace of the element has been found in the Earth’s crust. Named for the Greek god Prometheus who stole fire from the heavens.

– Take a trip to Rockefeller Center in New York City to see the bronze-gilded Prometheus!