Harman Patil (Editor)

Music based on the works of Oscar Wilde

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This is an incomplete list of music based on the works of Oscar Wilde.

Contents

Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, novelist, short story writer and wit, whose works have been the basis of a considerable number of musical works by noted composers. In classical genres, these include operas, ballets, incidental music, symphonic poems, orchestral suites and single pieces, cantatas, and songs and song cycles. Of more recent times, some have been the subject of musicals and film scores. Some are direct settings of Wilde's words or libretti based on them, and some are wordless settings inspired by his writings.

List of works

The works of Oscar Wilde that have been set to music include:

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Poem

Pete Doherty quotes the stanza beginning with "I never saw a man who looked/with such a wistful eye" in Broken Love Song on his solo album Grace/Wastelands.

Les Ballons

Les Ballons (The Balloons) is a short poem, the second of the two Fantaisies Décoratives, the first being Le Panneau (The Panel).

The Birthday of the Infanta

Short story

The Canterville Ghost

Short story (1887)

Popular music
  • The Austrian metal band Edenbridge recorded two songs on their 2004 album "Shine;" an instrumental intro track, "The Canterville Prophecy," and the song "The Canterville Ghost."

    • De Profundis

    Letter

    Endymion

    Poem

    E Tenebris

    Poem. Included in his collection Rosa Mystica.

    A Florentine Tragedy

    Blank verse play. Premiered not in England, but at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, 12 January 1906, in a German translation by Max Meyerfeld. The London premiere was on 10 June 1906.

    La Fuite de la Lune

    La Fuite de la Lune (The Flight of the Moon) is the second of the two poems in Impressions, the first being Les Silhouettes.

    The Happy Prince

    Short story

    The Harlot's House

    Poem

    An Ideal Husband

    Play

    The Importance of Being Earnest

    Play

    Impression du matin

    Poem

    Impression: Le Réveillon

    Poem

    Le Jardin

    Poem

    Lady Windermere's Fan

    Play

    Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

    Short story

    Madonna mia

    Poem. Included in his collection Rosa Mystica.

    La Mer

    Poem

    The Nightingale and the Rose

    Story

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    Novel (1890)

    Popular music
  • Television Personalities recorded a song titled "A Picture of Dorian Gray" for their 1981 album ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It. The song was covered by The Futureheads on their 2003 EP 1-2-3-Nul!.
  • prog band Nirvana (UK) released a 1981 single titled "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
  • "Tears And Rain" by popstar James Blunt features the line: 'Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray' from Back to Bedlam (2003)
  • The Libertines' song "Narcissist", from their 2004 album The Libertines, includes the line in the chorus, 'Wouldn't it be nice to be Dorian Gray, just for a day'.
  • Demons & Wizards recorded a song entitled "Dorian" on their 2005 album "Touched by the Crimson King."
  • Kill Hannah's song "Scream", from their 2006 album Until There's Nothing Left of Us, includes the line, 'Enacting Sybil Vane in some tragic play'.
  • Styx's song "Sing for the Day" references the titular character with the line, 'ageless and timeless as Dorian Gray'.
  • William Control titled a track on their 2010 album Noir after the protagonist
  • "Ballad of Dorian Gray", a song by Michael Peter Smith
  • "The Picture of Dorian Gray", a song by Cherry Five

    • Requiescat

    Poem (1874), included in his collection Rosa Mystica. Requiescat was written at Avignon seven years after his sister, Isola, died (23 February 1867), less than two months before her 10th birthday. Wilde was 12 at the time of her death.

    La Sainte Courtisane

    Play (fragment; 1893)

    Salome

    Play

    The Selfish Giant

    Short story

    Sonnet on hearing the Dies Irae sung in the Sistine Chapel

    Poem

    The Sphinx

    Poem

    Symphony in Yellow

    Poem

    References

    Music based on the works of Oscar Wilde Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA