3.4.5 On Latin titles, and too-abstract titles

I was thinking of giving my third piano sonata the title ‘Purgatio’ which is latin for ’purification’ but i’ve decided against. The rationale for using Latin, by the way, was to imply that it is an abstract relation to the music, not a concrete one. But let’s face it, anyone who uses another language for a piece of music (esp. french or latin) is obviously unbelievably pretentious.

I have always remembered that the main character in Ayn Rand’s short story, The Simplest Thing in the World, was a novelist and he wrote a novel called Triumph. I always thought that such a title is too abstract to interest anyone. Whatever else a title should be, it should be colorful.

Of course, in Rand’s defense, it was a title within a work of fiction, and therefore had other things to convey besides what a title normally must. It had to efficiently serve to characterize its fictional author, not serve as a real title for a real work. but still—it’s the first thing that jumps to mind as how not to title a work.

December 2003
Based on an email to Steve Clarian