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The Presence Of Don Quixote In Music, Susan Jane Flynn

Doctoral Dissertations

Many musical works have been based upon Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Since the publication of the novel in 1605 (Part I) and 1615 (Part II), composers of all eras have sought to translate the story of the knight-errant into the universal language of music. The genres and the musical interpretations have varied. But the interest in Cervantes' masterpiece as a topic of musical expression has endured through nearly four centuries.

After a brief introduction to the references to music in the novel itself, selected Quixote compositions from each century are discussed in this …