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Spaceways, v. 3, issue 4, May 1941
Page 13
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SPACEWAYS 13 FANTASY MUSIC er work of Liadov's which should appeal to fantasy fans in his tone-poem, The Enchanted Lake, which is short, unpretentious, and much more successful as an organic musical composition. It belongs to the Impressionist school which Debussy started; the thematic material is fragmentary, elusive, enwrapped in a dreamy web of orchestration and exotic harmonies based on the seven-tone scale. The slow rippling and shimmering of the enchanted lake is very expertly conveyed. The cycles of legend of various countries have always offered a fertile field for composers; probably the greatest single work in musical history--Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelungs--came from old Teutonic and Scandanavian mythology. Unique among the Scandanavian myths are those of Finland, which differ in a number of particulars from the others. Jan Siebelius, whom some place above Richard Strauss as the greatest of living composers, has set a number of these legends to music, and most popular of his settings is The Swan of Tuonela --the swan which floats along the misty river surrounding the Finnish Hades, and sings its melancholy song. The slow swirling of the fog between high stone cliffs is suggested, and through it comes a long mournful melody from the English horn, the song of the Swan. Other Sibelius compositions in the same mythology are En Saga, and Tapiola, as well as the early Origin of Fire. The story of the Saga is not given, but one hearing will convince the listener that it is fantasy of a high order--some heroic exploit of the old gods, perhaps. Tapiola belongs to Sibelius' later period, and carries through the musical tour de force of basing its entire course upon a single four-measure theme--a trick which in your commentator's opinion does not quite "come off". All of the music mentioned in this article, except The Apocolypse and The Origin of Fire, is recorded. THE END WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT 7 by J. MICHAEL ROSENBLUM The Ants of Timothy Thummer, by A. Ferenny, p. Cape, 1924. 7 6. Translated from the Hungarian. In a glade in the African jungle lives a colony of ants, apparently the original ant colony of the world. Throughout prehistoric ages they have evolved and adapted themselves and we are told--in a fashion very like a history book--of the social discoveries, the introduction of agriculture, herding, weaving, specialized tasks, etc., and the development of religion and a form of aristocracy amongst these lowly creatures. One then realizes, perhaps, that the whole work is a clever satire on humanity of today, for the social organisation is extremely similar. In the condescending tone of the author discussing the numerous imperfections of ant habits, the parasitical activities of their"natural" leaders--the "bighead" nobles and the "big-belly" priests-- one perceives interesting reflections. The work culminates with a great war between several different types of ants and a communistic revolution which supercedes their previous organization to leave them as they are today. The Pyromaniac, by Arthur Bruce Allen, p. James Blackwood & Co. 7 6. A drunken, good-for-nothing slattern bears a child in a burning cottage. He is a hopeless cripple but a brilliant mentally who when forced to attend the village school outshines his fellows. He is adopted by a rich chemical manufacturer whose only confident and intimate he becomes. When his benefactor dies and the pyromaniac, who throughout his life has had a passion for fire, inherits the vast fortune, he devotes his time to the perfection of a deathray as an outlet for his misanthropy. The ray is successful but officialdom does not accept it, so the "hero" after turning his ray on an RAP display at Hendon, goes out with a glorious bang, when Scotland Yard attempts to arrest him. Apart from the death-ray interest, the book is a worthwhile psychological study of a super-normal brain attuned to sub-normal passions and feelings.
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SPACEWAYS 13 FANTASY MUSIC er work of Liadov's which should appeal to fantasy fans in his tone-poem, The Enchanted Lake, which is short, unpretentious, and much more successful as an organic musical composition. It belongs to the Impressionist school which Debussy started; the thematic material is fragmentary, elusive, enwrapped in a dreamy web of orchestration and exotic harmonies based on the seven-tone scale. The slow rippling and shimmering of the enchanted lake is very expertly conveyed. The cycles of legend of various countries have always offered a fertile field for composers; probably the greatest single work in musical history--Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelungs--came from old Teutonic and Scandanavian mythology. Unique among the Scandanavian myths are those of Finland, which differ in a number of particulars from the others. Jan Siebelius, whom some place above Richard Strauss as the greatest of living composers, has set a number of these legends to music, and most popular of his settings is The Swan of Tuonela --the swan which floats along the misty river surrounding the Finnish Hades, and sings its melancholy song. The slow swirling of the fog between high stone cliffs is suggested, and through it comes a long mournful melody from the English horn, the song of the Swan. Other Sibelius compositions in the same mythology are En Saga, and Tapiola, as well as the early Origin of Fire. The story of the Saga is not given, but one hearing will convince the listener that it is fantasy of a high order--some heroic exploit of the old gods, perhaps. Tapiola belongs to Sibelius' later period, and carries through the musical tour de force of basing its entire course upon a single four-measure theme--a trick which in your commentator's opinion does not quite "come off". All of the music mentioned in this article, except The Apocolypse and The Origin of Fire, is recorded. THE END WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT 7 by J. MICHAEL ROSENBLUM The Ants of Timothy Thummer, by A. Ferenny, p. Cape, 1924. 7 6. Translated from the Hungarian. In a glade in the African jungle lives a colony of ants, apparently the original ant colony of the world. Throughout prehistoric ages they have evolved and adapted themselves and we are told--in a fashion very like a history book--of the social discoveries, the introduction of agriculture, herding, weaving, specialized tasks, etc., and the development of religion and a form of aristocracy amongst these lowly creatures. One then realizes, perhaps, that the whole work is a clever satire on humanity of today, for the social organisation is extremely similar. In the condescending tone of the author discussing the numerous imperfections of ant habits, the parasitical activities of their"natural" leaders--the "bighead" nobles and the "big-belly" priests-- one perceives interesting reflections. The work culminates with a great war between several different types of ants and a communistic revolution which supercedes their previous organization to leave them as they are today. The Pyromaniac, by Arthur Bruce Allen, p. James Blackwood & Co. 7 6. A drunken, good-for-nothing slattern bears a child in a burning cottage. He is a hopeless cripple but a brilliant mentally who when forced to attend the village school outshines his fellows. He is adopted by a rich chemical manufacturer whose only confident and intimate he becomes. When his benefactor dies and the pyromaniac, who throughout his life has had a passion for fire, inherits the vast fortune, he devotes his time to the perfection of a deathray as an outlet for his misanthropy. The ray is successful but officialdom does not accept it, so the "hero" after turning his ray on an RAP display at Hendon, goes out with a glorious bang, when Scotland Yard attempts to arrest him. Apart from the death-ray interest, the book is a worthwhile psychological study of a super-normal brain attuned to sub-normal passions and feelings.
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