Robertson Davies and Music

Robertson Davies once described himself as a ‘Failed Musician,’ but the musical education that Davies received, the role that music played in his life, and the use he made of music and musicians in his novels show that this is true only in the narrow sense that he did not earn a living from music. A proficient melopoetic artist, weaving music and musicians into his literary works with consummate skill and artistry, he was also professionally active as a music critic and a librettist. The German composer E.T.A. Hoffmann is the only historical musician to be given his real name and appear as a speaking character in any of the novels, but many of the author’s fictional musicians are based on real-life models, and despite his great love of music, Davies often portrayed musicians as uncouth reprobates. Music, which sometimes provides structural foundations for Davies’ literary works and other times serves as a leitmotif, is often a portal to unseen worlds, including the realm of the dead and of supernatural phenomena, or the domains of religious experience or creativity.