So how does this compare to "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones?
As a Brit discussing a past Brit composer, are modern Brit composers
doing the same thing or is "Paint It Black" saying something more
serious?
(Sometimes it's best to hear an opinion from someone who has grown up
in the same culture give their insights. A lot goes into a baby along
with Mother's Milk that someone outside that culture would not pick up
on.)
Best,
Stephen.
__________________________________________________________________
From: "chriswi...@yahoo.com" <chriswi...@yahoo.com>
To: Lute list <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>; Peter Martin
<peter.l...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 9:34:32 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance Metaphors
--- On Thu, 12/3/09, Peter Martin <[1]peter.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Peter Martin <[2]peter.l...@gmail.com>
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Renaissance Metaphors
> To: "Lute list" <[3]l...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
> 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
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References
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2. mailto:peter.l...@gmail.com
3. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
