-----Original Message----- From: Narada [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 03 December 2009 15:39 To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance Metaphors
Could we apply this line of thought to Dowlands Forlorn Hope Fancy? Neil -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 03 December 2009 15:35 To: Lute list; Peter Martin Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance Metaphors --- On Thu, 12/3/09, Peter Martin <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Peter Martin <[email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance Metaphors > To: "Lute list" <[email protected]> > Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 9:54 AM > Reminds me of > "Starless and Bible Black". King Crimson, via Dylan > Thomas. > The poem is not quite up to the eloquent heights of desperation evinced in a line like "cigarettes and ice cream," but "Darkness" is still a pretty decent tune. The poem's definitely about depression. Not truly debilitating clinical depression, but the sort of narcissistic, "Woe is me! Everyone _look_ at me wallowing in my own special brand of Weltschmertz! Don't you feel such great sorrow and respect for my poor poet's soul that feels everything so much more deeply than y'all?" Its important to keep in mind that melancholy was a fashionable artistic conceit at the time. It really was a game of "I can out-sad you." Thus, a lot of this rep has its tongue firmly implanted in its cheek and there are excursions into outright cheesiness. C'mon, can anyone _really_ take that "jarring, jarring sounds" bit seriously??? Melancholy was a fad precisely because it was a lot of fun to camp it up play the sad boy. In essence, they're mocking true depression with a wink and a nudge. Knowing this does not invalidate the repertoire, but it can help to add insights into performance. There are enough subtle twists and turns in Dowland's settings of these poems to let us know that he was in on the "joke" as much as anyone else. So taking everything with deadpan seriousness is a mistake. I've always found performances that do this to be the most disappointing. Chris To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
