Harriet Devine's Blog

Today's (guest) post is brought to you by the letter...

I had a comment from Carol, who had loved the meme I posted recently, saying she'd love to do it but hadn't a blog of her own. So I offered to post it for her, and here it is -- I added the photos myself, and wish I'd had one of Carol's real kitchen table, which sounds wonderful Thanks again, Carol.. 

My letter is T. I am very grateful to you for broadcasting (correct verb?) my list.

It hasn't been easy, I swung between Anthony Trollope,  William Trevor and Mark Twain for my favourite author. Then Elizabeth Taylor, Rosemary Tonks , Colm Toibin, and current favourite detective story author, Peter Temple called.

I've landed on Trollope mainly because he keeps on giving. I can imagine rereading Trevor, have reread Twain and Taylor but Trollope I've enjoyed many many times.

OK, the novel - Peter Temple's 'Truth' because the flawed characters' actions and decision making is so realistically edgy, (reminding me of the no time to decide actions I had to make as school teacher and then live with). The integrity of the central Head of Homicide main man hurts him but he sticks to his beliefs. I also like very much Tom Sawyer, The Tale of Two Cities, and Too Late the Phalarope. 
(And many titles beginning with The....)

 

My song is Tam Lin. It's a good powerful tale with lots of depth, meaning and challenge. It's mysterious and sung well by many including and especially Annie Briggs, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Decembrists.
Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Catherine Storr and Rosemary Sutcliffe have used it in great novels (amongst many others) (and my grandchildren live in the Borders where the story originates). The master storyteller Hugh Lupton tells and sings it well, explains its' history in exemplary fashion, and has used it on walking holidays in East Anglia.

 

For a film I've chosen A Taste of Honey (I could have chosen A Tale of Two Cities with Dirk Bogarde, I struggled with my desire to weep when Sidney Carton did his 'It is a far far better thing' speech because boys from my junior school class were sitting close by. I was about 8 at the time I might find it hammy now, who knows) Shelagh Delaney's play was seminal back then, and I/we loved that black & white film.

My thing is my kitchen Table, seldom clear almost always busy with small vases of garden flowers, projects, being read books and newly arrived ones, to do lists too, not to say food preparation, coffee and mail. The table was made by a dear friend* from reclaimed Victorian staircase wood (from houses demolished in Clerkenwell?) so is friendly, large, sturdy. The shiny ends of metal bolts that held the staircase together will always show. The surface has been sanded and revarnished once since he made it about 40 years ago. As well as eating there, my children painted, model made and sat around it until flying from home as adults. (*My friend came here as a refugee from Uganda when Idi Amin threw out the Asians. We worked together with troubled inner city children during the 70's & 80's then separately though connected in the 90's and have remained friends as our families grew, married, had their own children.)  I've taught children and adults around it, edited good writing and produced a magazine on it. Now I read blogs there and respond to them too.  

 

 

Shakespeare's Sonnets Set to Music

When I was about ten, my father gave me a book of Shakespeare's sonnets, and for some reason I took to them in a big way. I can't imagine that I understood everything in them -- in fact I'm not sure I understand everything in them even now. But I read them a lot, and I can still recite several of them from memory.

Anyway, the other day I got an email about a new project to set some of the sonnets to music. I'm not actually sure whether, on the whole, I'm a particular fan of setting poetry to music, but I listened to some of these and I liked them, and thought some of you out there might like to hear them too. The music is played on traditional Elizabethan instruments and does, I must say, sound lovely. There's also a non-Shakespearean setting of a piece called 'Love is a Babe', which sounds like a very 21st-century title but isn't.

So -- here is a picture of the instruments being played, and I'm going to copy the information, and links, that I was sent so you can follow it all up if you want to.

 

Here's a link to I Fagiolini's "Love Is A Babe", an acapella piece that could very well have been performed in Shakespeare's time. And a five track sampler of more contempoary material, featuring the afformentioned Elizabethan instruments, including album highlights "Like As The Waves Make Towards The Pebbled Stone" and Cara Dillon's "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day".

 SHAKESPEARE: THE SONNETS

Shakespeare’s poetry. Shakespeare’s instruments. Modern songs. Out on April 23rd (Shakespeare’s birthday) Written during the time of Elizabeth I and re-imagined for the Diamond Jubilee year of Elizabeth II, these are the most precious words ever written about love.

Performed on instruments from the early 17th century, played by the cream of the world’s period instrument specialists, conceived with immense passion, commitment and integrity, Shakespeare: The Sonnets was recorded in London over the last 6 months.

Fresh from his success of recording an outsize Renaissance mass for a massive 40 parts that had not been heard for 400 years (and winning a Gramophone Album of the Year Award in the process), Robert Hollingworth, director of vocal ensemble I Fagiolini (also a judge on the UK’s Choir of the Year and involved in a number of films) was looking for a new challenge.

To a specialist of the Renaissance period, Shakespeare’s sonnets are an intriguing challenge: the most romantic and personal poems ever written but rarely set to music. All the lyrics are Shakespeare’s own and no additions made, although occasionally lines have been moved around to fit the contemporary song structures. Within this, the meaning is never altered and the emotional content of the sonnets is always sustained.

What is amazing is how modern some of Shakespeare’s language is: ‘Blind Fool Love’, or the ‘blues’ sonnet ‘No Longer Mourn’ - or the final track, ‘Love is a Babe’. Singers from all over the UK perform on the album, but finding players of these rare and ancient instruments ought to have been incredibly difficult. In actual fact, the UK is the world leader in modern performers on these recreated ‘period’ instruments, and experts in playing in period style. For example, Erin Headley plays the lirone - a 13 string cello-type which is so difficult to play that it has not been heard for hundreds of years. In fact Erin is one of only a handful of professional lirone players in the whole world. Also Lynda Sayce, who played lutes, Renaissance guitars and theorbo is the lead lutenist and a world authority on the instrument. Her theorbo (a type of giant Lute with a very long neck) is a copy of one originally made in Venice in 1608 and now housed in the Royal College of Music, London. It has strings lengths of over 170cm and a massive 2 metre neck!

The originals of these instruments are in museums and often unplayable, so modern replicas are now handmade to order by makers who have rediscovered this ancient art. A harpsichord and virginals can be worth £20,000 each: lutes, harps and theorbos £10,000 each. All the instruments benefit from stable temperatures with no air conditioning, often problematic in modern life. However the important feature of this project is its blend of early instruments and playing styles with modern recording techniques and the very modern groove. Percussion is played by famed drummer Geoff Dugmore who can usually be found playing with Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart and Tina Turner, as well as helping out modern day X Factor winners like Matt Cardle.

The Music:

1) Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore. Sonnet 60

2) Against that time - If ever that time come. Sonnet 49

3) Who will believe my verse in time to come. Sonnet 17

4) How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st. Sonnet 128

5) O, never say that I was false of heart. Sonnet 109

6) Love is too young to know what conscience is. Sonnet 151

7) No longer mourn for me when I am dead. Sonnet 71

8) Thou blind fool love. Sonnet 137

9) Those lines that I before have writ do lie. Sonnet 115

10) When I do count the clock that tells the time. Sonnet 12

11) Shall I compare thee to summers day? Sonnet 18

Whitney R.I.P.

Something for Valentine's Day

Musical meme

On Cornflower's  lovely blog yesterday was a musical meme, or what she called an alphabet of songs. The rules are simple:

Comment on this post and I'll assign you a letter.

List (and upload if you like) five songs which begin with that letter.

I commented and got the letter S, so here are my songs:

Summertime 

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

Someday My Prince Will Come

September (Richard Strauss, Four Last Songs)

Sketches of Spain (Miles Davies) 

Perception: A True Story

Someone sent me this story this morning -- it may be old news but I hadn't heard it before so I thought I'd share it with you.

 

THE SITUATION 

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.  After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing.  He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. 

About 4 minutes later: 

The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. 

At 6 minutes: 

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. 

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly.  The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time.  This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:

The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour: 

He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all. 

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.  Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $200 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story.  Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. 

This experiment raised several questions: 

* In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? 

* If so, do we stop to appreciate it? 

* Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: 

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . . How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?