Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
My parents both work in pediatric healthcare, and now that I’ve grown up, they have gotten out of touch with what kids like to watch. My mom will sometimes put on Disney shows while she’s doing other work so that she can know the characters that her patients love. Recently, my whole family has started watching Bluey every chance we get. Since I go to school in another state, I haven’t had a chance to watch it recently. It’s a show that’s made for kids while still bringing in something for adults to enjoy, which is why we love it so much. The storyline follows 6-year-old Bluey, a blue Heeler dog, and her family.
My favorite episode is called “Sleepytime”, where Bluey’s sister Bingo reads a bedtime story and dreams about flying to different planets. The ending scene always makes me cry, and part of it comes from the beautiful instrumental music that plays during it. It’s a slightly remastered version of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, specifically Op. 32: 4. Jupiter. The story and string part fit beautifully together and make for the perfect episode to watch with family. You can listen to or play this piece by checking out our selection at the music library!
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Amy (class of 2025) which explores how classical music can convey many emotions.
Emotional Classical Music
When people hear I enjoy listening to classical music, they often assume it’s the soft repetitive music most associate with studying. However, classical music is much more than just something to put on in the background. It is compelling storytelling, music I am not able to listen to while working because I am too enthralled by the story unfolding in my ears to pay attention to anything else. This is why I created this playlist: to show new classical music listeners that classical music is not a one-size-fits-all genre, it can convey anything you want it to.
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Esther (class of 2025) and features songs that do not need words to speak to us.
Ineffable
One of the many things I appreciate about music is how much it captures and conveys experiences that may be difficult to otherwise express verbally. Here are some songs that seem to speak without words.
As your friendly neighborhood blog editor/Music Library Associate, I thought I would kick things off for this academic year with a post in honor of British composer Gustav Holst‘s 143rd birthday.
“Beni Mora” was inspired by a vacation trip Holst made to Algeria in 1908. In letters home to his wife, he called Algeria a mix of East and West where mosques and hijab wearing women were juxtaposed with advertisements for American cinematography (source: GustavHolst.info). He even went so far as to go bicycling in the Algerian portion of the Sahara desert — quite a vacation!
A photo of an Algerian street scene circa 1908
There was a fascination with “the orient” as a broad concept (literally broad stretching from North Africa to India to Japan) in Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which led to a bit of an artistic fad for “Orientalsm” across various artistic media with varying success.
I’m not sure how someone actually from Algeria would feel about this “cigar box” type portrayal from the early 20th century
The work premiered in 1912 and definitely reflects a mixture of East and West there is definitely a westernized sense of the “Oriental” evident, but not in a way that feels disrespectful of the culture that inspired it.
A snippet of a working manuscript in Holst’s handwriting.
“Beni Mora” consists of three movements – two dances and a finale subtitled “In the Street of Ouled Nails”.
The first dance starts off with a languid, almost cinematic feel — winds blowing across lonesome sand dunes are definitely evoked to my Western ear and builds to a louder, bigger feeling section that sounds to me like a lost outtake from the soundtrack to Lawrence Of Arabia (which of course was written much later!).
The second movement starts with an interesting syncopated percussion motif and makes use of orchestral tone color, having various melodic lines thread through different sections of the orchestra and groupings of instruments.
The third movement was directly inspired by a repetitive flute tune that Holst overhead during his Algerian travels. This 8 note flute melody becomes the hypnotic basis for this movement and is repeated many times while other harmonies, instruments and musical themes swirl in and amongst and around the repeating flute motif in a manner that suggests the changing scene as people come and go on their daily business on an Algerian street and also help keep the motif interesting. Some music critics have even referred to this movement as “proto” minimalist because of the 163 plus repetitions of that flute motif.
Frederick Arthur Bridgman (American, 1847-1928), “A Street Scene in Algeria”, oil on canvas
I first discovered “Beni Mora” in 2003 when I was living in Cheltenham while working at the Holst Birthplace Museum and fell in love with its blend of exoticism and romanticism that causes it to sound like a miniature film score. This feels like something that really would fit right in on a film soundtrack from a 1930s or 40s serial (or an Indiana Jones movie), which also appeals to me. I admire Holst’s curiosity about other cultures as evidenced in his incorporation of his Algerian vacation experience and musical style (as he perceived it) into this musical travelogue.
(Fun fact: Holst was also fascinated by the culture of the Indian subcontinent and wrote choral works and chamber operas exploring myths and legends of India, even going so far as to teach himself Sanskrit so he could read Hindu texts in their original language! Yay cultural curiosity!)
Of course, one should also listen to “The Planets” (it’s very famous and beloved for a reason), but I think “Beni Mora” provides a great way to delve further into the output of an early 20th century composer whose total output is well worth exploring! (Especially since the Music Library has a version that can be streamed — access is a wonderful thing!)
Statue honoring Gustav Holst in his hometown of Cheltenham, England