Jennings, Gary: The Center Ring
The story is about a travelling circus that wends its way from the United States to Europe ending in Paris with the Franco-Prussian War and its immediate aftermath. As this well-researched novel indicates, an important part of any circus was its “band”. Therefore, there are a number of references to music, musical events and even fictional meetings with some of the composers of the day such as Offenbach. Included is a slight reference to Bruckner which I quote below: “On a Sunday, some of the circus company went to St. Stephan's Cathedral—along with half the city population, it seemed, from the crush—to hear the renowned Vienna Boys' Choir sing. Afterward, Florian said to Willi Lothar, "Well, that choirmaster Bruckner is also the emperor's organist at the Hofburg. Is this as close as we are ever going to get to that Hofburg?" ================================================== Jennings, Gary Spangle Vol. II: The Center Ring (A Forge book, published by Tom Doherty Associates, N.Y, N.Y, 1999, C1987, P.428 ISBN: 0-812-56472-3 (paperback edition) My thanks to Jim Ridgway, Librarian Emeritus and Recordings Selector, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada for this information. |
