Letters of Note: Music

by Shaun Usher (Compiler)

From Beethoven and Tchaikovsky to John Lennon Prince and Kim Gordon, tune in to the evocative expressions of treasured composers, musicians, singers, and songwriters in this enchanting volume from the compiler of the bestselling Letters of Note collections

Verdi writes to his publisher about a man who hated Aida so much that he wants his money back. Keith Richards tells his aunt about bumping into a former schoolmate named Mick Jagger, who also loves Chuck Berry. Yo-Yo Ma wonders whether Leonard Bernstein remembers introducing him onstage as a young boy. A Harvard psychiatrist begs CVS to change their on-hold music. Riffing on their passions and surroundings, the artists and entertainers in this volume candidly reveal the sources of their inspiration, what music means to them, why they create it, and so much more. This rich and engaging collection of 30 letters celebrates the resonance that music, in its many forms and variations, brings to our lives.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Audiobook, History, Adult

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2020

About the author

Shaun Usher is a writer, editor, and compulsive collector of remarkable words. He is the author of Letters of Note, an international bestseller that began life as a blog and grew into a celebrated series of books and inspired the live stage show Letters Live, which he has co-produced since 2013. He has published 16 books so far, covering everything from love and grief to music, dogs, and outer space, and in October 2025 will release his 17th, Diaries of Note: 366 Lives, One Day at a Time, a curated journey through a year’s worth of diary entries from history. He lives in Manchester with his wife, Karina, and their three children.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of letters covering over two centuries and myriad genres of music which, in many cases, show insight into the human behind the genius. It's a quick read (and hard to put down, once you get started), but there are some great gems that deserve a bit more of a ponder. Several musicians -- new to me -- sounded intriguing enough that I made note to track down their works.

[I read a pre-pub version, so I hope the editors will be doing a bit more work. There were lots of typos, including elimination of nearly every occurrence of "ff" and "ft," turning such words as "after" to "aer," and "offering" to "oering."]

[Kori May · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful collection. The letters were sweet, funny, angry, and poignant. Looking to reading more collections from the Letters of Note series.

[Gert De Bie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit kleinnood zou zelfs zijn centjes waard zijn, mocht het boekje alleen uit de brief van Leonard Cohen aan zijn uit het oog verloren muze Marianne bestaan. Zelden (of nooit) kwamen de haren op mijn armen zo overeind bij het lezen. Zelfs nu als ik erover schrijf.... Zes sterren voor die brief.

Verder verzamelde Usher de meest uiteenlopende brieven omtrent muziek, die elk om hun eigen redenen lezenswaardig zijn. Ergens blijft het gevoel na zinderen dat er nog krachtigere, leukere of interessantere brieven over muziek moeten zijn, maar misschien is het net leuk om het potentieel van briefwisseling op die manier aangereikt te krijgen. Heerlijk boekje!

[Marika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of letters. Would’ve loved to have read more from composers (my personal interest) over more modern musicians. Overall a good balance of both though.

Thank you Penguin Books for the finished copy to read and review.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a website, and so many memes these days - but this book-length selection of the best music Letters of Note was lovely to read in and of itself. Away from the noise of the internet. Some beautiful, funny, wise, madening pieces collected here.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun, moving and interesting collection of letters! It covers different centuries, different genres and different people, contains informative introductions to each letter, and there was not one boring moment in this book.

[Stephanie D.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little book. More pop music stuff in here than I was interested in, but still a nice sampling of voices from the world of music.

[Mike Violano · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim volume is an eclectric collection of 30 letters by and about musicians, from fans, flaming critics, and remembering favorite performances has pleasures within. It's a bit like a line from Forrest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates", and so is Letters of Note: Music. There's someone for everyone from Keith Richard writing to his dear aunt about Mick Jagger, to gems from Charlie Mingus and John Coltrane, to a child prodigy named Yo-Yo Ma writing to Leonard Bernstein, to Angelique Kidjo's wonderful public letter to girls of the world.
Compiler Shaun Usher began his quest to collect and organize letters from and about all walks of life a few years ago. His website, lettersofnote.com contains samples and announcements of public letter readings by celebs in the UK.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4-5 stars. Have already read 'Letters of note: Space' and have started 'Letters of Note: Art' and love this 'series'! Fairly easy to read, being quite short. Wide variety of letters, including (the deaf-blind) Helen Keller's one, reflecting on her first experience of an orchestra, Florence Price, a black composer who struggled to get her pieces accepted and performed because of her gender and colour, a few funny ones like Erik Satie being snobby and a couple that were written to David Bowie and Karen Carpenter after their deaths.

[Danielle]

Not sure how to rate this yet but it was honestly fascinating.

[Susanne (Pages of Crime) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of letters with the central themes of music - it's creation, performance, effects and power. A wonderful letter from Nick Cave made it all the better!

[Konstantinos Mindcrimek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Το οργισμένο γράμμα ενός οπαδού των Beatles προς την Nike επειδή έβαλε κομμάτι τους σε μια διαφήμιση του 1987, το γράμμα του Keith Richards προς τη θεία του για ένα νέο φίλο (κάποιον Mick Jagger) που ακούει Chuck Berry, το γράμμα ενός σκηνοθέτη προς τους Coldplay για να χρησιμοποιήσει το yellow σε τανία, το αποχαιρετηστήριο γράμμα του Leonard Cohen στην παλιά αγαπημένη του Marriane, το γράμμα του Roger Taylor προς το Rolling Stone μετά από μία πικρόχολη κριτική του τελευταίου με βάση το soundcheck(!).

Κάπως έτσι κυλάει αυτό το μικρό βιβλιαράκι που παρουσιάζει διάφορες επιστολές που έχουν γραφτεί τα τελευταία 200 χρόνια και με κάποιο τρόπο όλες σχετίζονται με τη μουσική (σε πολλά και διαφορετικά μεταξύ τους είδη). Αντίστοιχα υπάρχουν άλλα βιβλία της σειρά που επικεντρώνουν σε άλλα θέματα (πόλεμος, γάτες, έρωτας, θρήνος κτλ)

Γενικά έχει ποικιλία παρά το μικρό μέγεθος του(105 σελίδες), δεν έχουν όλες το ίδιο ενδιαφέρον, άλλες βγάζουν γέλιο, άλλες συγκίνηση και άλλες είναι αδιάφορες. Κάποιες επιστολές πάνε πολύ πίσω όπως η ευχαριστήρια επιστολή του Μποντλέρ προς τον Βάγκνερ το 1860 αφού ενθουσιάστηκε μετά από μια συναυλία ή η επιστολή του Μπετόβεν προς μια μικρή θαυμάστρια του το 1812!

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

hi, letters make me feel weepy.
maybe it's the sentimentalist or romantic in me? i'm not sure but the fact that i got through this book without shedding a tear (though we got close at some points) is somewhat of a miracle. oh, and when i say got through this book i mean: engulfed it in 45 mins, cover to cover, with pencil in hand because oh my gosh some bits were too good not to underline.
like: 'it seemed to me that this music was mine, and I recognized it in the way that any man recognizes the things he is destined to love.'
also, the subject matter probably helped in the almost-crying situation. because as Shaun Usher says in his introduction, 'without music or letters, we would suffer.'
a beaut lil book.
leaving you with another quote, it's a lovely one!
'As I listened, with darkness and melody, shadow and sound filling all the room, I could not help remembering that the great composer who poured forth such a flood of sweetness into the world was deaf like myself. I marvelled at the power of his quenchless spirit by which out of his pain he wrought such joy for others-'

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned:
It was an interesting listen at first but not quite the book that I had hoped for as a music fan... some interesting bits about how bitter musicians can be and seasoned composers giving each other 18th century solid burns... and then it hit a streak of absolute perfection - really moving letters and great performances for:
Rik Mayall to Bob Geldof
Kim Gordon to Karen Carpenter
Jon Chu to Coldplay
Nick Cave to fan Ptolemy
Jarvis Cocker to Iggy Pop
I could listen to the above over and over again for the comfort and love alone ❤️🎵

[Selene]

I love this series of books! I've read the Art one and this one, and they're both very enjoyable.

This volume contains a mixture of lighthearted and serious, old and new letters, from well known musicians.

I couldn't believe my eyes as I was reading letter 21, by Rik Mayall to Bob Geldof. Do yourselves a favour and track that down - I found it on the Internet earlier today to read to my family, as I didn't have the book with me. It was shockingly hilarious.

I'll surely get more of these books now!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just delightful. Okay, the letters aren't printed in chronological order, but this editorial decision is no 'offence' in my opinion - quite the opposite. I enjoyed jumping from one musical era to another, back and forth in time.
The book's only major flaw: It's much, much too short, hence I'm hesitant about giving it five stars. I guess I'll have to wait for the publication of a 500-page-chunkster containing nothing but musical letters ... 🎶

[Gavin Hogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short collection of letters, all with a connection to music. Particularly touching were the letters from Florence Price asking a conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to consider using one of her scores, Nick Cave replying to a young fan and John Coltrane writing about the creative urge. I found some of the letters about classical music dull as I didn't have a context for them, but generally this was an entertaining compilation.

[Mancman · Rating 4 out of 5]

By its very nature a compilation is going to be hit and miss, but there are more hits than misses in here.
It’s a fascinating concept: take a correspondence and republish it.
There are all kinds of examples and they offer glimpses into the psyche of individuals, written with love, anger and a multitude of other emotions.

[Mesa Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of letters covering over two centuries and myriad genres of music which, in many cases, show insight into the human behind the genius. It's a quick read (and hard to put down, once you get started), but there are some great gems that deserve a bit more of a ponder. Several musicians -- new to me -- sounded intriguing enough that I made note to track down their works.
-Teresa B.

[My Little Forest · Rating 3 out of 5]

A varied selection of music-themed letters, narrated by astounding voice actors (i.e. Ben Cumberbatch and Stephen Fray, among others) whose performances made the letters sound from poignant to simply hilarious. Worth the listen! Looking forward to getting acquainted with more of Shaun Usher's Letters of Note.

[Bobbi Galvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recognized just a few of the musicians in this book, perhaps because the author is from England and I am not as familiar with some of those performers. While I was hoping for more familiar stars, I enjoyed the premise and the format.

[Gigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Praticamente è una collezione di lettere scritte, o da musicisti o da altre persone, dirette a musicisti o ad altre persone. Si va da Verdi a Nick Cave passando per Mingus e Kim Gordon. Bellissime, profonde, incazzate, tenere o ammonitrici, tutte indistintamente splendide da leggere.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute! Artists brains work in different ways. Love discovering the senses of humor and personalities behind iconic music

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely anthology of letters with a connecting theme of music - very wide-ranging, and offering many perspectives.

Gift from Audrey.

[14h562]

i loved this book sm ugh <3

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting collection for letters written by, about or to musicians. Loved all the variety and the interesting anecdotes. Great voice cast too!

[Olivia N · Rating 5 out of 5]

the only thing i didn’t like was i wish it was longer :( :)

[James Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great craic

[Darareads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. Really funny ones in there.

[Christopher Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a perfect Father's Day present from my daughter as she knows that my favourite hobbies ate music and reading, and that I like reading books of letters. It didn't disappoint.