Monstrous Musical Moments ... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is the time of year when chains rattle, doors creak, and skeletons dance — it’s Halloween, when even the classics dress up in a monster costume.

The American composer Libby Larsen composed a 1987 concert suite titled What the Monster Saw, inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. According to Larsen, the suite is a musical exploration of the second part of the novel wherein the monster confronts Frankenstein, his creator. In 1990, Larsen’s confronted the same monster at greater length, in a full-length opera titled Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, again based on Shelley’s classic tale.

Listen to the Halloween Composers Datebook entry, Larsen and Waxman do "The Monster Mash" by clicking here! 

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Source:  Composers Datebook, a daily program about composers of the past and present, is hosted by John Zech and produced by American Public Media in association with the American Composers Forum.