Tarot-Inspired Classical Music?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Nov 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Rusty Neon	02 Nov 2003
I realize that there are works of classical music that have mystical or occult themes and are therefore part of the same mystical tradition from which arose the tarot (e.g., Mozart's Masonic music pieces), but I'm curious to know whether there is any classical music in existence that is directly tarot-inspired.

firemaiden	02 Nov 2003
Well, there is a card reading in one of the acts of Strauss's Arabella. I will have to look again to see if it is a tarot reading or simply cards. There is the famous card scene in Bizet's Carmen. She draws the Death card over and over.

Rusty Neon	23 Nov 2003
Thanks firemaiden. It's great having an opera singer on staff. :) I'm looking forward to checking out those librettos. If there's anything on tarot in classical music, chances were that it was in opera, in light of all the metaphysical themes in opera. (1) By the way, browsing in a record store, I stumbled by accident on a reference to a fortune-teller in a Mussorgsky opera _Night on Bald Mountain_. I don't know yet what kind of fortune-telling it was (e.g., (2) From a google search, I found that there's a rock/orchestral work by Mike Batt called _Tarot Suite_. Don't know much about it, except for the title. http://www.geocities.com/noel_kjuss/odds.htm

ros	23 Nov 2003
Hi, I don't know where I found this or what it is : Music of the Tarot by Dave & Steve Gordon It may be what you're looking for. The store I asked about it didn't have it & didn't know about it. Please let us know what you find about the music. I also ordered Tarot in the Spirit of Zen. The lady told me there was a cd that went with it did I want it & I just said no. I'll ask what it is when I get my book next week. Mabee it is music, I never asked.

Ozymandiusz	23 Nov 2003
Several composers in the Late Romantic era were famous for their personal links to the occult; It's likely that several works were in some way inspired by the tarot, but not so that posterity would realize it. Two composers who come to mind immediately are Hector Berlioz and Claude Debussy.

The Tarot-Inspired Classical Music? thread was originally posted on 02 Nov 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.