Spooky Music

 

Famous traditional piano composers have a long history with ghost stories, supernatural visions, and spectral musical inspirations.

Frédéric Chopin's Phantoms and Visions

• Cohort of Phantoms: Chopin frequently spoke of being surrounded by a "cohort of phantoms" or seeing his friends as walking dead figures.
• The Funeral March Vision: Before performing his Sonata in B-flat Minor (which includes the famous Funeral March), Chopin reportedly fled a room in terror after seeing a creature or phantom emerge from his piano.
• Medical Explanation: Modern research suggests Chopin's vivid ghostly hallucinations—such as seeing small figures or demons crawl out of his instrument—were linked to neurological events like temporal lobe epilepsy or "Lilliputian hallucinations.”

Robert Schumann's "Ghost" Variations

• The Spirit Dictation: Near the end of his life, Schumann believed the ghosts of Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert visited him and dictated musical themes from the beyond.
• Ghost Variations (Geistervariationen): Schumann wrote his final piano work, the Geistervariationen, claiming these spectral figures brought him the melody.

William Bolcom's "Graceful Ghost Rag"

• The Benign Presence: American composer and pianist Bolcom wrote the popular Graceful Ghost Rag (Ghost Rag No. 1) as part of his Three Ghost Rags.
• In Memory of His Father: Bolcom dedicated the piece to his late father, stating he frequently felt his father's gentle spirit hovering near the piano while he played late at night.

Ghostly Piano Music

 

With piano composers’ sensitivity, it is not surprising that they would be inspired by the idea of ghosts. More specifically, ghostly literacy has inspired composers.  Frances Metcalfe, a retired music teacher like Tomoko, shares her list of ghost-inspired classical music¹. This blog focuses on literary ghost stories that were transformed into piano pieces.  

Beethoven’s fifth piano trio in D was nicknamed ghost because of its ghostly sounding slow second movement. Playwright Samuel Beckett wrote the play Ghost Trio,” which means Beethoven’s composition.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is known for his interactions with ghosts, so it is no surprise that Tchaikovsky’s “Hamlet Overture Fantasie” evokes the turmoil of Hamlet’s feelings about death. This composition was arranged as a piano solo.

Henry James’ story “the Turn of the Screw, which explores a governess’s ghostly obsessions related to her children, was transformed into a chamber opera. His twelve-note theme accentuates the mysterious and threatening note. A piano arrangement captures the mood.

The tale of the flying dutchman has inspired several composers. Wagner’s operatic treatment is probably the most well known.  A piano solo of the opera’s overture is available.

Vaughn Williams was inspired by British folk songs. As a result, “The Lover’s Ghost” is a musical transformation of such a traditional tale. The piano arrangement is usually set to accompany vocal performances.

These compositions showcase how literature can be transformed into music, capturing the essence of a ghostly atmosphere, which is certainly applicable during Halloween.

Metcalfe, F. (2021, Nov. 11). 11 pieces of classical music inspired by ghosts. Spinditty. https://spinditty.com/genres/11-Pieces-of-Classical-Music-Inspired-by-Ghosts