Erich Zann plays a viol in Lovecraft’s The Music of Erich Zann. The strange instrument is central to the story’s atmosphere, as Zann uses its music to confront or drown out an unseen presence beyond his room.
The narrator is a university student lodging on the mysterious Rue d’Auseil. He becomes fascinated by the elderly, mute German musician who plays in a local theatre orchestra and lives in an attic room. Zann’s ordinary performances gradually give way to increasingly uncanny music, which the student hears through the door.
Lovecraft wrote the story in December 1921, and it was first published in the March 1922 issue of The National Amateur. The setting’s exact country and date are never identified, adding to its dreamlike uncertainty. The street name may echo the French phrase au seuil, meaning “at the threshold.”
A frequent mix-up is calling Zann’s instrument a violin. Illustrations and adaptations often depict one, but the story says viol. Lovecraft later indicated that he had a violoncello in mind, so “viol” is the faithful quiz answer, while clarinet, harp and flute are not supported by the text.