Music or Mars?

John Carter of Mars and Dejah Thoris (2009) by Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo


Since I'm in a bit of a rush today, we'll compress the celebration of Edgar Rice Burroughs' birth date (1875) and Johann Pachelbel's (1653) into one post. This may become the model for future days when I'm torn between two inspirations. Since Burroughs has plenty of illustrations to depict his work, but few quality videos, he'll have the front page. Meanwhile, Pachelbel has virtually no interesting images but many, many vids. So he'll come after the jump.

Today we'll focus on images of Burroughs' Barsoom. Why? Well, there is a John Carter of Mars movie coming out later this year. Second, Dejah Thoris, princess of the Martian city-state of Helium, is the original interplanetary super-hottie. Many an illustrator has been inspired by this Martian muse. ;-)


Cover art to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Mars by Frank Frazetta (1970)


If it's Tarzan or images of the Hollow Earth land of Pellucidar that you desire, then wait until next year or so.



Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium (2010) by Frank Cho


As regards Barsoom, Princess of Mars was published as a serial in 1912 and republished as a novel in 1917. The series spans 11 books. The success of this series created the Planetary Romance subgenre of Science Fiction.

Now for some music.

Pachelbel is somewhat of a "one hit wonder" of classical music. His Canon in D is ubiquitous in collections of Baroque music. He's got other fine works, but this classic piece overshadows all his other accomplishments. So here are a few vids:

Original instrumentation

George Winston's Piano Variations

An very cool version on marimba by Nanae Mimura

And here's a rough but interesting version on theremin, played by Pamelia Kurstin

Well that's it for this peculiar two-in-one post. Let's give thanks for creative minds like Borroughs and Pachebel, and for their interpreters like the various artists and musician above. ;-)

Enjoy!!!