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Phantagraph, v. 4, issue 4, July 1936
Page 7
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The PHANTAGRAPH, Page 7 Tschaikowsky is the God of sad and sombre themes, often heart-rending in their pathos - sometimes welling up in sudden intense orchestral sobs - sometimes low and passionate in exquisite depths of sorrow; while Rachmaninoff's compositions like Isle of the Dead are spine-chilling in their vividness. There are countless other weird compositions in the classics, and even such modern songs as George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite possess more than than a touch of fancy, and it would take many volumes to cover and adequately describe all of the music of this type. In literature we find that many masterpieces have been inspired by or written about weird music. Poe's great poem "The Bells" catches some of the elusive charm that only eery sounds can evoke. Some of the best stories in Weird Tales have dealt with the subject: H.P . Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann" ably portrays a genuine mood of outre terror by the wild suggestive notes of a bass viol. "Bells of Oceana" by Arthur J. Burks brings to the reader a sense of the unknown horror inspired by unearthly music. The rites of Pan are climaxed to the accompaniment of weird, piping strains, and we have all read stories in which the Pipes of Pan are heard, reminding one of the drowsy Aoelian measures of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun. Much weird verse is closely akin to music of the same nature -- and the two are very often combined with marvelous results. As an example, two of H.P. Lovecraft's verses "Fungi from Yuggoth" were set to music by a composer of Los Angeles. Harold S. Farnese. Readers of Weird Tales will remember "Sable Reverie" by Robert Nelson, for which music had been written. Certainly when great masters like Richard Wagner, Felix Medelssohn and Jan Subelius and others have expressed themselves through the medium of weird, haunting music, it is at once raised to immortal levels. Printed by Irwin O. Brandt, Greenville, Ohio
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The PHANTAGRAPH, Page 7 Tschaikowsky is the God of sad and sombre themes, often heart-rending in their pathos - sometimes welling up in sudden intense orchestral sobs - sometimes low and passionate in exquisite depths of sorrow; while Rachmaninoff's compositions like Isle of the Dead are spine-chilling in their vividness. There are countless other weird compositions in the classics, and even such modern songs as George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite possess more than than a touch of fancy, and it would take many volumes to cover and adequately describe all of the music of this type. In literature we find that many masterpieces have been inspired by or written about weird music. Poe's great poem "The Bells" catches some of the elusive charm that only eery sounds can evoke. Some of the best stories in Weird Tales have dealt with the subject: H.P . Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann" ably portrays a genuine mood of outre terror by the wild suggestive notes of a bass viol. "Bells of Oceana" by Arthur J. Burks brings to the reader a sense of the unknown horror inspired by unearthly music. The rites of Pan are climaxed to the accompaniment of weird, piping strains, and we have all read stories in which the Pipes of Pan are heard, reminding one of the drowsy Aoelian measures of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun. Much weird verse is closely akin to music of the same nature -- and the two are very often combined with marvelous results. As an example, two of H.P. Lovecraft's verses "Fungi from Yuggoth" were set to music by a composer of Los Angeles. Harold S. Farnese. Readers of Weird Tales will remember "Sable Reverie" by Robert Nelson, for which music had been written. Certainly when great masters like Richard Wagner, Felix Medelssohn and Jan Subelius and others have expressed themselves through the medium of weird, haunting music, it is at once raised to immortal levels. Printed by Irwin O. Brandt, Greenville, Ohio
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