Ah, Lotte Lehmann! Her Wagner. Her Strauss. (By the way, Mark - the
latter wrote Vier letzte Lieder - you meant Vier ernste Gesänge by
Brahms). And Lehmann plus Tauber in 1924 singing the "Glück, das mir
verblieb" duet from *Die Tote Stadt* is heaven, a world of necrophiliac
nostalgia concentrated in a few soaring minutes. No one sings like that
today, no one. I even love her *Winterreise*, rushed & patchy as it is.
mj
Mark Weiss wrote:
> I'm a listener only--a dud at the fiddle as a kid. But I've been lucky in
> my friends--a lot of composers and musicians, who have never been shy
> about
> their enthusiasms. My college roommate, who went on to be a composer and
> music prof, had me sit next to him at the piano as he explained, note by
> note, what was happening in Bach's Italian Concerto. Another friend
> had me
> listen, score in hand, to a recording of Rachmaninoff playing Chopin--we
> were both heavy into dead musicians at the time (I have a lifelong
> crush on
> both Elizabeth Schumann and Lotte Lehman, and need I mention Conchita
> Supervia?)--and had me notice the subtle variations in pressure on each
> note that formed the articulaton of a phrase. So that when I got to
> Duncan
> and Creeley I already knew how to sound them, and it continues to inform
> both my reading and writing.
>
> Mark
>
>
> At 03:45 PM 5/20/2005, you wrote:
>
>> This is not a subject I can resist. I totally agree with you; it's
>> not just
>> a loss to them but to their readers.
>>
>> I used to think that I was going to be a composer. The lessons I
>> attended
>> allowed me to find out in my own time that my musical processes were
>> simply
>> not distinctive enough for the job. But I sure learned to listen, to
>> structure, balance and tonal qualities in particular, and all these
>> things
>> and more are essential for poetry too.
>>
>> best joanna
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 8:09 PM
>> Subject: Re: Brahms and music generally
>>
>>
>>> One of the things I'm distressed by is the general lack of knowledge of
>>> classical music among younger poets. I think I learned a lot more about
>>> form, not to speak of sound, from devouring the canon. There's simply a
>>> lack of complexity to popular music, as lovely or exciting as some
>>> of it
>>> is.
>>>
>>> Also distressed at the general lack of knowledge of folk music, and I
>>> don't
>>> mean the music of Bob Dylan and Donovan Leitch, profound students of
>>> the
>>> tradition. It used to be one of the things that held us together as
>>> communities.
>>>
>>> My Carlos was taken to a Cailith (please, please correct my
>>> spelling) by a
>>> then girlfriend of the Belfast Irish variety. He was utterly amazed
>>> that
>>> everyone knew all the songs. In the US you'd have to go to a Protestant
>>> church to find the like, and the fare would be hymns for breakfast
>>> lunch
>>> and supper.
>>>
>>> Mark
>>
>
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