Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Composer Paola Prestini joins renowned London-based author Sonu Shamdasani (who edited the first publication of Carl Jung’s major work: Liber Novus, The Red Book) to discuss the inspirations behind her new quartet based on The Red Book, and the relationships between the iconography, visuals, and writings to the music. The Red Book was at the center of Jung’s self-experimentation, and although its title had been well known for years, it was not until 2009 that its contents were revealed to the public and practicing psychotherapists. Prestini’s The Red Book (commissioned by Caramoor) will receive its livestreamed world premiere on Sunday, April 11, 2021 by the Thalea String Quartet: caramoor.org/event/thalea-string-quartet-livestream-spring-2021
What is The Red Book?
In 2009 a manuscript that Jung wrote during the years 1914–30 was published in the original German with English translation as The Red Book = Liber Novus. It was, by Jung’s own description, a record of his “confrontation with the unconscious.” The work contains an account of his imaginings, fantasies, and induced hallucinations and his own color illustrations.
Who was Carl Jung?
Carl Jung, in full Carl Gustav Jung, (born July 26, 1875, Kesswil, Switzerland—died June 6, 1961, Küsnacht), Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Caramoor Conversations is a free video series in which we dive deeper into the pieces being performed in an upcoming concert. These in-depth discussions with the artists are a way for the audience to have a better understanding, and hopefully, a greater connection to the composers and their work. After their initial broadcast, the Conversations will be available throughout the current season. You can tune in at any time!
Composer Paola Prestini joins renowned London-based author Sonu Shamdasani (who edited the first publication of Carl Jung’s major work: Liber Novus, The Red Book) to discuss the inspirations behind her new quartet based on The Red Book, and the relationships between the iconography, visuals, and writings to the music. The Red Book was at the center of Jung’s self-experimentation, and although its title had been well known for years, it was not until 2009 that its contents were revealed to the public and practicing psychotherapists. Prestini’s The Red Book (commissioned by Caramoor) will receive its livestreamed world premiere on Sunday, April 11, 2021 by the Thalea String Quartet: caramoor.org/event/thalea-string-quartet-livestream-spring-2021
What is The Red Book?
In 2009 a manuscript that Jung wrote during the years 1914–30 was published in the original German with English translation as The Red Book = Liber Novus. It was, by Jung’s own description, a record of his “confrontation with the unconscious.” The work contains an account of his imaginings, fantasies, and induced hallucinations and his own color illustrations.
Who was Carl Jung?
Carl Jung, in full Carl Gustav Jung, (born July 26, 1875, Kesswil, Switzerland—died June 6, 1961, Küsnacht), Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Caramoor Conversations is a free video series in which we dive deeper into the pieces being performed in an upcoming concert. These in-depth discussions with the artists are a way for the audience to have a better understanding, and hopefully, a greater connection to the composers and their work. After their initial broadcast, the Conversations will be available throughout the current season. You can tune in at any time!
