Carmel, Calif. ? No one really knows what author John Steinbeck would think of a musical tribute to his life and his writing. He saw himself as a craftsman, not a highfalutin artist.

He generally shunned publicity, and once suggested that his hometown of Salinas name a bowling alley or brothel after him.

The Monterey Symphony has a loftier plan to honor the Nobel Prize-winning author today, on what would have been his 100th birthday: a specially commissioned work for baritone and orchestra.

“I knew we had to do something,” said Joe Truskot, who began preparing for the Steinbeck centennial when he was appointed executive director of the Monterey County Symphony more than 10 years ago,

Last year, Truskot hired novelist Jamaica Kincaid and composer Allen Shawn to create a musical tribute to Steinbeck. Their 30-minute piece is “And in the air these sounds …”

“It’s not tied overly much to the occasion” of Steinbeck’s 100th birthday,” Shawn explains. “It’s an independent work of art that celebrates language in a musical setting.”

Shawn said Kincaid first sat down to write the lyrics, which she titled, “nocturne for the note your father left you in the pocket of his dead suit.” It’s an abstract poem that describes the act of writing and the lonely task writers face when confronting a blank page.

The symphony performs the work through Tuesday.

“It’s going to be a glorious occasion,” Truskot says. “I think Allen is gifted enough to keep the drama coming.”