Musical adaptations

The Master and Margarita

Music inspired by the novel

Many musicians who found their inspiration in The Master and Margarita. The first one, and not the least, was Mick Jagger, who received the newly published novel in 1967 from his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, and who would, for the first time in the history of The Roling Stones, write a song alone, without the help of his musical twin brother Keith Richard. Sympathy For The Devil was seized by many offended parents as another proof that rock and roll was demonic music, but it dodn't help. The song is still played on every Stones concert, and the youngsters of the 21th century love it as if it was a song of their own era.

Many other, much younger rock artists felt attracted by the novel too. Like, for instance, Pearl Jam, The Tea Party or Franz Ferdinand, who always have Margarita, Love and Destroy on the playlist.

And besides the world of rock and roll there's a wide range of other artists who integrated the story of The Master and Margarita in their musical themes. Sometimes on demand, like Ennio Morricone and Alfred Schnittke, who wrote the soundtracks for the movies of respectively Alexander Petrovic and Yuri Kara, but often spontaneously because they wanted to express how they were moved, touched or thrown into ecstasies by some scenes or by the novel in its entirety. From classic to house, from jazz to folk, the palette is very colourful.

There's a possibility that I missed some. So if you know about others, please don't hesitate to contact me.