In Hermann Hesse’s “Steppenwolf,” the loner Harry Haller stumbles across a secret door, inscribed “MAGIC THEATER – NOT FOR EVERYBODY – FOR MADMEN ONLY.” In “The Glass Bead Game,” the game itself, in which scholars strive to achieve perfection through a synthesis of the arts and sciences, is also described as a magic theater.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” explore this common thread in Hesse’s novels, with a concerto for horn and orchestra, “The Glass Bead Game,” by James Beckel, and “Music for the Magic Theater,” by George Rochberg.

Go mad for Hesse. Join me for “Novel Inventions,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.