Measure for Measure... and Music!

While I was in the shower, I started to think about how lonely a quiet shower is, especially in the morning, when I'm trying to get energized and ready for the day ahead. I wished that my iPod had better portable speakers so that I could wrap it in a plastic bag and listen to my music in the shower so I wouldn't have to hear the extremely annoying muffled conversations of every other person in the bathroom with me.

Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if the books we read in class had a soundtrack?" This thought was born out of desperation, I'll admit, and the need to talk about other things for this blog. But hey, music!

 Also, I don't remember if anyone else has done this before. If so, thank you so much for inadvertently inspiring me! You are a magical human. If not, then cool, too, because I sort of borrowed the soundtrack idea from Tumblr, as well.

So here's  my music series for "Measure for Measure". I came up with songs that I think say a lot about the three main characters: Angelo, Claudio, and Isabella. They might be songs that have to do with their characters, or songs the characters might listen to, were the play set in modern times.

Angelo (the dirty bastard)
"All These Things That I've Done"-- The Killers
"Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone you Shouldn't?)" -- The Buzzcocks
"Turn Me On" -- Bromheads Jacket
"Arabella" -- Arctic Monkeys

Claudio (ya hecked up big time, buddy)
"Apple Tree" -- Wolfmother
"World Spins Madly On" -- The Weepies
"The Lion and the Wolf" -- Thrice
"Older Brother" -- Pepper Rabbit

Isabella (oh girlie, ya got some decisions to make)
"Almost Pretty" -- The Perishers
"Awake my Soul" -- Mumford&Sons
"Dead Sea" -- The Lumineers
"Mace Spray" -- The Jezabels

Another example of Mephistopheles ruinin' some lives (though Faustus had it coming)

SWOOSH

That's the sound of us traveling back in time to when I originally meant to post this, while we were reading Doctor Faustus. (It's interesting to me how many of us continue to post about this play. We all have so much to say that didn't fit into our class time!)

Anyway, what I was thinking about the whole time we wee learning about this play, was the album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "Beethoven's Last Night." (Yes, they do have albums that have music other than Christmas.)

This album is a concept album which means that it tells a single story through the songs. It also comes with a booklet where you can read the story along with it.

The premise of this story is that it is Beethoven's last night on earth. He is going to die that night (though he doesn't know this at the beginning.) He is working on his tenth symphony when he is visited by Mephistopheles who tells him that he has come to collect his soul. he then makes him to offer that if Beethoven gives Mephistopheles all his music and allows him to wipe the memory of his compositions off the face of the earth, he will give him back his soul. The story is about Beethoven trying to decide what he wants.

Obviously this story of making contracts with the devil is a popular one, since we see it so often throughout literature. In the Canterbury Tales, there's also a story of a man meeting with the devil.

You can read the basic story here.

This song is called "Mephistopheles" and is sung by- you guessed it- Mephistopheles as he introduces himself:

And in this next video you can listen to the whole album (which you totally don't have to but there's some musical masterpieces in there (in my opinion of course!)

My favorite is "Mephistopheles' Return," in case you were wondering :)