The Composer Is Dead (Book & CD)
By Lemony Snicket
There's dreadful news from the symphony hall—the composer is dead!
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6014 in Books
- Published on: 2009-03-01
- Released on: 2009-03-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 40 pages
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 5—Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" has been the gold standard for introducing children to instruments since 1946. The concept has been embraced (some may say enhanced) by none other than Lemony Snicket, whose picture-book overview offers the additional layer of a murder mystery. The CD presentation features music by Nathaniel Stookey, performed by the San Francisco Symphony. The story is well paced, employing wordplay, humor, and mild suspense to build a slow crescendo that originates with the delicate strings and climaxes with percussion. The bombastic Inspector, read by Snicket on the CD, sports pinstripes, a bowler hat, and a handlebar mustache in the book. As he interrogates each section of the orchestra, the instruments describe their whereabouts on the night of the crime in characteristic voices, telling something about their actual roles while offering imagery for the illustrator. Thus, "'We were performing a waltz,' said the Violins. 'We played graceful melodies so the ladies and gentlemen could spin around and around and around until they felt dizzy and somewhat nauseous.'" Ellis's watercolors combine caricatures of the action with silhouettes of the instruments. Evidence leads to the conductor, since "wherever there's a conductor, you're sure to find a dead composer!" Musings on justice versus art point to certain acquittal. Due to the length of the musical portions, it is unlikely that children will listen and read simultaneously. It is quite likely, however, that both formats will provide entertainment and enlightenment, in whatever order they are encountered.—Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
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From Booklist
This irreverent picture book is built somewhat along the lines of Who Killed Cock Robin?, but imbued with Snicket’s charmingly snide wit. The Composer is dead (“This is called decomposing”) and the Inspector is called in to uncover the murderer—or murderers. The sections of the orchestra are personified as the Inspector interrogates the Violins and Woodwinds and Trumpets and even the Conductor. Each has an alibi, though by the end it becomes clear that they are all complicit in the butchering of countless dead composers. The artwork alternates between silhouettes of instruments, the indignant Inspector accusingly pointing his finger, and chaotic, playful interpretations of waltzes and marches as notes and ligatures swirl about. An accompanying CD features a comically dramatic reading by Snicket set against a mishmash of music that integrates motifs from various classical sources. The whole slightly macabre package is great fun, and while many youngsters will miss the clever wordplay and wry twist at the end, this still winds up being a fairly good overview of each orchestral section’s role in bringing music to life. Or death. Grades K-3. --Ian Chipman
About the Author
Lemony Snicket claims he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. He is the author of several other unpleasant stories, including those in the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lump of Coal.
The composer was dead to begin with. Of that there could be no question.
Remember the days when kids would learn about the different instruments of the orchestra by attending mandatory orchestral performances of Peter and the Wolf? Well, go to bed, old man! Kids today don't have time for stories of wolves and boys and lucky/unlucky duckys. Not them. No, these days to grasp a child's attention fully it takes nothing short of murder. Cold-blooded, tastefully adapted, deeply illustrated murrrrderrrrr (roll them r's about your tongue). A shot has been cast across the brow of old Peter and his dilapidated wolf, and a new author's in town to entice your children with death, woodwinds, and questionable Offenbach references. Yes! Lemony Snicket a.k.a. Daniel Handler a.k.a. that bloke with the accordion (sorry accordion fans: no squeezeboxes in this orchestration) has gone out, written a picture book of a police procedural, found himself a composer of his own (presumably not dead yet), and an orchestra to play on the accompanying CD. There was even an illustrator thrown somehow into the mix. The result is The Composer is Dead, a kind of drawing room murder mystery where a subpar Hercule Poirot attempts to pin the murder of "the composer" on various members of the orchestra. And so, without a bit of musical background to my name, I'll be attempting to review the book and the CD together in one fell swoop. Wish me luck.
Composers compose. Dead composers decompose. And this decomposing composer in particular has caught the interest of the local constabulary. An Inspector is dispatched right quick to interview the suspects, pardon me, the "usual suspects", find the culprit, and haul him or her off to jail. But it is not so easy. Everyone has an alibi, and if they don't have an alibi then they are mighty persuasive. The strings were performing a waltz at the time of the crime. The reed instruments flatter themselves out of suspicion. The trombones were having a drink. One by one everyone is questioned and released until the only logical culprit would have to be the conductor. After all, "wherever there's a conductor, you're sure to find a dead composer." But the orchestra protests en masse, and in the end they admit that while they have all "butchered" a composer or two in their time, they also keep such artists alive forever. An accompanying CD brings this tale to audible life, as the San Francisco Symphony, with Snicket narrating, plays a composition composed specifically for this tale.
To be blunt, this is not a particularly obvious idea for a book. Peter and the Wolf is one of those standards that nobody pays much attention to any more. Sure, schools regularly scoop large numbers of elementary aged children and up and plop them in theaters to listen to the show, but has any child in the history of the world gone on to become a rabid (poor choice of words?) Peter and the Wolf fan? Do they insist on reading every picture book adaptation of the show? Do they want to hear the music again and again? I'm sure that there are some that do this, but for the bulk of them it's not the highlight of their week. But to go out and make your own orchestral/picture book version of the same kind of idea? Frankly, Mr. Handler is the only person who could have even attempted this. You need someone with Snicket/Handler's sway, influence, and musical connections (bonjourno, Mr. Merritt) to be able to wrangle an honest-to-goodness orchestra into shape. To make something like this work you need a popular figure (Lemony Snicket - check) that happens to have a sense of humor (a mention of getting the phone number of "very attractive young sailors" in the text - check) and an ear for what kids like (check and check). I hate to say it, but the reason no one has attempted this before is because nobody had the right qualifications for the job.
Which isn't to say that Mr. Handler doesn't put quite a lot of very swell work into this pup. With all the wit and sly allusions readers have come to expect from A Series of Unfortunate Events, I'm certain that even people who were not fans of that particular series will gravitate to this piece. Honestly, there's only one instance where he shakes the old "a word which here means" out of the mothballs. Maybe two. But you can't help but love the writing. Of course the format follows the standard Agatha Christie route where a detective questions a bunch of suspects in a singularly civilized manner, trying to winkle out a murderer's confession. The fact that this particular Inspector is utterly incompetent (elegant moustache aside) is beside the point. And while kids may need to have the explanation that orchestras have been butchering composers for years explained to them, why bother? It makes sense either way. Older kids who get it will be pleased. And younger ones will end up attending concerts for some time under the distinct impression that the people there are all bloodthirsty killers. It's win-win!
Which brings us to the illustrations. I have some bad news here. I was not a huge fan. Carson Ellis made a name for herself illustrating the album covers for bands like The Decemberists. She later went on to do book jackets for titles like Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society. Ellis's style is distinctive. It involves thin lines and watercolor washes that utilize a lot of grays, browns, roses, and watered down blues. I've little doubt that there are picture books out there that would pair with her strengths beautifully, but this book was not one of them. In this setting Ellis's colors are almost too muted to serve the story well. Scenes that are meant to contain lots of crazy movement and dancing, as with the swing dancing section, don't feel like they contain a lot of movement. The figures are stagnant, and sometimes utterly baffling. There is one pairing of a man with a woman upside down on his left arm that left me squinting and blinking several times in search of his head. Then, inexplicably, that same pairing reoccurs later when the Inspector is rounding up the alibis. I do not think that the pictures detract too terribly from the rest of the book, but they weren't an ideal pairing and, if this book catches on as much as I hope it will, I'm certain they won't be the last.
With the given understanding that my orchestral familiarity begins and ends with my six year stint in various middle school and high school orchestras (I was a second violin and therefore, according to this book, "more fun at parties"), I will attempt to critique Nathaniel Stookey's orchestrations as found here. Yes. So. Sounded good? Sounded good. Actually I did have a question or two about the choices he made. For example, was it utterly necessary to end the piece on such a benign note? I would have assumed from reading the book that the ending would build and build and build until you reached a veritable crescendo with the words, "But those who want something a little more interesting . . . should go to the orchestra!" Which isn't to say that I didn't like the music as a whole. I loved the threatening horns whenever the dead composer's unchanging dead-like state was mentioned. I liked how well the various orchestrations were combined when the Inspector summarizes everyone's alibis. I loved the music during the litany of dead composers of the past. I just wished for a bigger bang at the end, I guess.
Recently a variety of vocal recordings of famous authors were released. Some authors matched their works. Others, like Arthur Conan Doyle, didn't. And Daniel Handler's voice? Initially you'd perhaps find it unexpected. The audiobook version of A Series of Unfortunate Events had actor Tim Curry read the tales, and that's about what you'd think Mr. Handler would sound like. Instead, his voice takes a minute or two to get used to. You have to ease into it, as one does a hot bath. Once you get comfortable, however, his narration acts as the perfect complement to the story (which is right). Be sure to pay close attention to the narrated portions of the CD in their entirety because there's quite a bit of additional dialogue and small off-the-cuff asides to enjoy. Particularly when the narrator starts to get a bit peckish. The first half of the recording is words and music. The second half, music alone.
Owing no particular allegiance to boys, wolves, and their Russian composers, I would love to see orchestras across this great country of ours merrily adapting this story and this music to their usual concert repertoires. And as for the book itself, without considering its larger ramifications and applications, it's quite strong. As I've said, the art wasn't what I would have picked for it, but it doesn't really detract. The words are hilarious, as per usual, and the accompanying CD ideal for long car trips, bedtime fare, or just sitting about the living room. A great idea that may play itself out for far longer than picture books can usually hope for.
Oh yeah! He's back in the game!
This book is amazing! My friend who is a music teacher and I were listening to a review of this book on NPR when it caught our interest. On a subsequent trip to Target, we found this book. Upon finding said tome, we proceeded to excitedly read aloud its contents. My favorite part is where the woodwinds use flattery to deflect the blame. My friend's? The decomposing pun. If a book can entertain two grown women in the middle of Target... imagine the possibilities! Needless to say, it is firmly ensconced in her classroom repertoire. Enjoy!
Lemony Snicket and music is a great combination!
I have been a huge Lemony Snicket fan for awhile now, and I was also a music major in college, so when I heard about this book, I was very excited. I just got the book today and have already listened to the CD three times (and it's about 30 minutes long)! Every time I have been laughing out loud so hard! Lemony Snicket's voice really adds to the story, and the music is very fun. (I especially like the trombone/percussion music.) Since the music and narration add so much, I don't know if I'll read the story by itself very much or even read along with the CD at all because it's so good by itself. I think many people would like this book, but if you don't know instrument stereotypes or don't have a little knowledge of some composers, you might miss some of the humor. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has been in a band or orchestra or likes classical music or Lemony Snicket.
