-ana

-ana (more frequently -iana) is a suffix of Latin origin, used in English to convert nouns, usually proper names, into mass nouns,^[1] as in Shakespeareana or Dickensiana, items or stories related to William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens.

The recognition of this usage as a self-conscious literary construction, typically as a book title, traces back at least to 1740, when it was mentioned in an edition of Scaligerana, a collection of table talk of Joseph Justus Scaliger, from around 150 years previously.^[2] By that period Scaliger was described as "the father, so to speak, of all those books published under the title of -ana".^[3]

As grammatical construction it is the neuter plural, nominative form of an adjective: so from Scaliger is formed first the adjective Scaligeranus (Scaligeran) which is then put into the form of an abstract noun Scaligerana (Scaligeran things). In Americana, a variant construction, the adjectival form already exists as Americanus, so it is simply a neuter plural (suffix –a on the stem American-); the case of Victoriana, things associated with the Victorian period, is superficially similar, but the Latin adjective form is Dog Latin.

Examples

• Shakespeariana; or the most beautiful topicks, descriptions, and similes that occur throughout all Shakespear's plays; subtitle of Charles Gildon, The Complete Art of Poetry (1718)
• Gulliveriana: or a Fourth Volume of Miscellanies, being a sequel of the three volumes published by Pope and Swift, to which is added Alexanderiana, or a comparison between the ecclesiastical and poetical Popes and many things in verse and prose relating to the latter by Jonathan Smedley (1728).^[4]
• Johnsoniana: or, Supplement to Boswell (1842), by John Wilson Croker, formed from Samuel Johnson
• C. A. Moore , Miltoniana (1679–1741), Modern Philology, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Feb., 1927), pp. 321–339. From John Milton.
• "In all of Vidaliana, there may be no more famous moment than the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1968." From Gore Vidal.^[5]

Use in music

The suffix -iana or -ana has often been used in the titles of musical works, as a way of a composer paying a tribute to an earlier composer or a noted performer.

Mauro Giuliani (died 1829) wrote six sets of variations for guitar on themes by Gioachino Rossini, Opp. 119-124. Each set was called "Rossiniana", and collectively they are called "Rossiniane".

Later examples include:

• Albeniziana: Joan Gibert Camins honouring Isaac Albéniz
• Bachianas Brasileiras: Heitor Villa-Lobos honouring Johann Sebastian Bach
• Bartokiana: George Rochberg honouring Béla Bartók
• Fantasia Busoniana: John Ogdon honouring Ferruccio Busoni
• Chopiniana: Alexander Glazunov honouring Frédéric Chopin
• Cimarosiana: Gian Francesco Malipiero honouring Domenico Cimarosa
• Debussiana: James Rhinehart honouring Claude Debussy
• Donizettiana: Myer Fredman honouring Gaetano Donizetti
• Dussekiana: Eric Gross honouring František Xaver Dušek
• Frescobaldiana: Vittorio Giannini honouring Girolamo Frescobaldi
• Gabrieliana: Gian Francesco Malipiero honouring Giovanni Gabrieli
• Gershwiniana: Steven Gerber honouring George Gershwin
• Handeliana: Józef Koffler honouring George Frideric Handel
• Lisztiana: Dmitri Rogal-Levitski, Jean-François Grancher honouring Franz Liszt
• Mahleriana: Domenico Giannetta honouring Gustav Mahler
• Mozartiana: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky honouring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Mozartiana: Julian Yu honouring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Nordraakiana: Johan Halvorsen honouring Rikard Nordraak
• Offenbachiana: Juan José Castro, Manuel Rosenthal honouring Jacques Offenbach
• Paganiniana (Casella): Alfredo Casella honouring Niccolò Paganini
  • Nathan Milstein also wrote a Paganiniana
  • Charles Camilleri wrote a Paganiana [sic], for piano 4-hands^[6]
• Pedrelliana: Manuel de Falla, Roberto Gerhard honouring the pianist Felip Pedrell (Falla’s piece was the final section of Homenajes)
• Purcelliana: Alfred Akon honouring Henry Purcell
• Overtura Respighiana: Salvatore Di Vittorio honouring Ottorino Respighi
• Rossiniana: Ottorino Respighi honouring Gioachino Rossini
• Sarasateana: Efrem Zimbalist honouring Pablo de Sarasate
• Scarlattiana: Alfredo Casella, Noam Sheriff honouring Domenico Scarlatti
• Schumanniana: Vincent d'Indy honouring Robert Schumann
• Segoviana: Darius Milhaud honouring the guitarist Andrés Segovia
• Soleriana: Joaquín Rodrigo honouring Antonio Soler
• Straussiana: Erich Wolfgang Korngold honouring Johann Strauss II
• Tartiniana: Luigi Dallapiccola honouring Giuseppe Tartini
• Tchaikovskiana: Myer Fredman; and Tasmin Little and John Lenehan; honouring Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Telemanniana: Hans Werner Henze honouring Georg Philipp Telemann
• Thomsoniana: Peggy Glanville-Hicks honouring Virgil Thomson
• Viottiana: Luciano Sgrizzi honouring Giovanni Battista Viotti
• Vivaldiana: Gian Francesco Malipiero honouring Antonio Vivaldi

Other examples in music

• María Teresa Prieto's 1942 symphony was titled Asturiana.

• Oscar Peterson named a 1964 album Canadiana Suite.

• Eric Woolfson's rock opera and first solo album was titled Freudiana, in honour of the pioneer psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.

• Randall Thompson set seven poems of Robert Frost in a work he called Frostiana.

• Darius Milhaud wrote Kentuckiana, divertissement sur 20 airs du Kentucky, Op. 287 (1948)

• Robert Schumann wrote a piano suite Kreisleriana, but the Kreisler in this case was the fictional literary character Johannes Kreisler created by E. T. A. Hoffmann.

• Gösta Nystroem's Symphony No. 4 (1952) was originally entitled Sinfonia shakespeariana.

• Einojuhani Rautavaara subtitled his 6th Symphony Vincentiana, in honour of Vincent van Gogh. He had earlier written an opera on van Gogh, called Vincent, and he reused some of the material in his symphony.

• Ballets named Glinkaiana, Medtneriana and Scriabiniana were staged in the Soviet Union in the early 20th century, set to music by Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Medtner and Alexander Scriabin respectively.

See also

• Composer tributes (classical music)

Notes

Look up -ana in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.