I was born in Maryland and spent my first thirty years living there, first in the Appalachian Mountains, then on the Eastern Shore, and later in suburban Washington. After a year in South Carolina, I moved to Georgia in 1977. I soon met another park ranger who worked in Florida. She was a wonderful woman who became my best friend. then my wife, and soon the mother of our three children. I spent over eleven years working in the historic city of Savannah, Georgia, and on the moss-draped sea islands nearby before moving to Atlanta.. In 2007, I retired from the National Park Service and a career dedicated to preserving and interpreting resources and themes in the cultural and natural history of the United States. It was a most rewarding experience. Today, I enjoy living in the rolling hills and woods of the Appalachian Piedmont east of Atlanta.
For fantasy fiction fans this day in 1954 has great significance. It is the day that J.R.R. Tolkien'sThe Fellowship of the Ring first appeared on store shelves in the United Kingdom. The book was the first of three volumes in the high fantasy novel we know today as The Lord of the Rings. A used copy of that first edition with its original dust jacket would fetch an owner at least $6500. An autographed copy would easily be in six figures as Tolkien was a bit of an introvert and disliked autographing his books. I doubt that sum would matter much to true fans. To them the words within are priceless.
Who was the man behind this beloved three volume narrative we know as The Lord of the Rings? The 1968 BBC video below contains some footage of an interview and explores Tolkien's real and imaginary worlds. The audio is not the best so viewers may want to use earbuds or headphones.
Below is a probing, fast-paced, and well-known Tolkien interview from BBC Radio in 1964. It was first broadcast in 1971. All of Tolkien's brilliance and eccentricity is on full display in this wide-ranging look at one of the most beloved writers of the last century.
It would take a generation after his death (1973) before a cinematic version of his great work would, perhaps could, appear. The Lord of the Rings film series produced between 2001 and 2003 not only created a new generation of readers but also energized existing Tolkien fans to reexamine his work. All of this new energy and imagination has had a significant effect on the world of fiction and fiction writing. Tolkien's creative genius and the publication of Fellowship of the Ring - and The Hobbit - started the surge. We can't say with precision where that surge takes us but we can be certain that Tolkien's legacy will be enjoyed and expanded long into the years ahead.
Sources
Photo: tolkienlibrary.com
Text: wikipedia.com, J.R.R.Tolkien tolkienestate.com "Why Did Tolkien Write The Lord of the Rings," Michael Martinez, middle-earth.xenite.org
The English composer, Frederick Delius, was born on this day in Yorkshire in 1862. At 24, he lived the classic story of breaking away from the family business - wool, no less - to pursue a love for the arts, in this case, music. The break was interesting for it took him first to Solano Grove and an orange plantation on the banks of the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville, Florida. Later, he would teach music in Danville, Virginia, before returning to Europe for formal education in Germany. He took the sounds of American culture with him. In 1888, he settled in Paris, later married the painter, Jelka Rosen - she painted the portrait below - and devoted his life to composition. In his last sixteen years he was tortured by the pain of a slow death from syphilis contracted during his early years in Paris. In the four years before his death in 1934, he was blind and essentially paralyzed from the neck down. He composed and completed some of his most significant work during this period, all of it reaching paper through the notations of his loyal amanuensis, Eric Fenby.
Delius patterned much of his music after that of his friend and fellow composer, Edvard Grieg, but tempered it with English impressionism, a love of naturalism, and his American experience, particularly his immersion in African American cultural themes while working on his father's grapefruit plantation. The result was a unique and demanding music for performer and listener alike and one that almost demands an acquired appreciation. From his death until the 1970's many in the classical music industry thought his compositions were "too sweet" and trapped in immature cliches. Today, his popularity continues to grow but I believe he remains an underappreciated figure in 20th century music.
Portrait of Delius by his wife, Jelka Rosen, Grez-sur-Loing, France, 1912
I first encountered Delius's music in a BBC program in 1968. The unique lyric quality of his compositions was like a magnet and there was no escape from the compelling soundscapes with such rich, complex imagery and depth. It was easy to fall under the Delius spell as a student of physical and historical geography. The appreciation increased when I began a life-long career focused on the nation's most significant and often most beautiful places.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to sit alone on a dock watching the evening move over the St. Johns River landscape not far from Solano Grove. Delius's music was in my head and all the beauty of "Old Florida" was in my heart. A century earlier he had likely walked the river's edge at that very place, watched the same sun glistening on the water, heard the worker's songs blending with those of insects and the wind rustling the reeds and nearby palmettos.
Over his lifetime he would be identified with the English school of music, but would put much of that Florida experience into his work. In fact, he has a significant place in American music history having been the first classical composer to use musical themes of black Americans in the South. Those themes appear in several of his composition more than forty years before George Gershwin and Porgy and Bess.
This post opened with Song of Summer, written in 1930 when Delius was blind and paralyzed. To conclude, here are two earlier compositions. The first is from the Florida Suite, written in 1888 when he was twenty years old. Music historians agree that this piece represents the first use of black American folk idioms in classical form by a European composer. He also composed the first black opera, Koanga. (George Gershwin is most often erroneously credited with this accomplishment, but his opera, Porgy and Bess, premiered fifty years later.
The second work, In A Summer Garden, was composed in 1908. This and many other Delius works would go on to influence a number of popular music composers well into the 20th century. Perhaps the most significant of them was the iconic composer, pianist, and bandleader, Duke Ellington, whose composed - most likely with his arranger, Billy Strayhorn - In a Blue Summer Garden as a tribute.
Over forty years have passed since I watched that sunset near Solano Grove. That's a long time to explore and mature in one man's music. It remains a most satisfactory experience filled with complex brushstrokes of sound so different, immersive, and timeless.
Music is a cry of the soul. It is addressed and should appeal instantly to the soul of the listener. It is a revelation, a thing to be reverenced.
Frederick Delius
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
Delius photograph, Monographein Moderner Musiker, Leipzig, Germany: C.F. Kahnt Nachfolger, 1907. Public domain in the United States Portrait of Frederick Delius by his wife, Jelka Rosen.
Text: title, from comments by Delius biographer, Christopher Palmer, 1976
The Delius Society Before the Champions: Frederick Delius' Florida Suite for Orchestra, Mary E. Greene., M.A. Thesis, University of Miami, 2011 Radio Swiss Classic, Frederick Delius Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Frederick Delius
Today is 150th anniversary of the birth of the great British statesman, Winston Churchill. The 19th century American literary icon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said "there is properly no history, only biography." You'll get some argument about that statement these days. On the other hand, in the last century and a half there is Churchill. I think we would be hard-pressed to find a better illustration of history as biography in that time frame.
For more on information on Winston Churchill go here. And, thanks to Steven Hayward at Powerline, here is a teachable moment from the renowned political philosopher, Leo Strauss, on hearing of Churchill's death in 1965. In addition, we cannot forget Churchill as a historian. He was both an extraordinary observer and compelling writer. New readers should start their journey with My Early Life: A Roving Commission, first published in 1930. I have a feeling it will not be their last volume by Churchill.
Churchill was a master of the English language but even he struggled for the right words to both describe the reality his countrymen faced at the hands of Luftwaffe bombers during the the Blitz of 1940 and 1941 as well as rally them to endure what he knew would be their darkest hour:
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.
For seventy years, he served the people of Great Britain and the colonies from the role of soldier to that of statesman. Aside from the monarchy, especially the reign of Elizabeth II, there is arguably no other indivudual in the modern era who personifies England and its people more than Winston Churchill.
Sources
Photos and Illustrations: public domain photos, Imperial War Museums
On November 28, 1757, the British artist and writer, William Blake, was born in London. Even after several decades of studying his life and work he continues to make me dream and, for that reason, he remains my favorite anarchist.
In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought he was a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. Blake was in the forefront of that movement but it would take almost two centuries before he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world.
There is one certainty about Blake's work and that is its complexity. He is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of the West and its traditions. I hope you will take time to examine him and his extraordinary contributions to our experience. To explore his work appropriately is beyond the intent of this blog and capability of its author. For readers who want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's expanded version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.
William Blake Thomas Phillips, English, 1807
I have learned much from Blake the artist and philosopher in an effort to find a healthy balance between intellect and emotion. It's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. These works have been a part of that experience:
In the following illustration, The Ancient of Days, Blake depicts his character, Urizen, [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father - and often God the Son - as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of Blake's imagination.
The Ancient of Days William Blake, 1793
In the following engraving Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping - the dividers, once more - the world of humankind on the earth. Newton, as a symbol of the Age of Reason and its invention and industrialization, has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.
Newton William Blake, 1795
Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason -the dividers - brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the recline female nude) and a redeemed humanity.
The Descent of Peace William Blake, ca. 1815
One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton: A Poem in Two Books. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as mbodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.
The stolen and perverted writings of Homer and Ovid, of Plato and Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible; but when the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right, and those grand works of the more ancient, and consciously and professedly Inspired men will hold their proper rank, and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration, Shakspeare and Milton were curb'd by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant hirelings! For we have hirelings in the camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress mental, and prolong corporeal war. Painters! on you I call. Sculptors! Architects! suffer not the fashionable fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works, or the expensive advertising boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ and His Apostles that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman models if we are but just and true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever, in Jesus our Lord.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills.
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets. Numbers xi, ch. 26
Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:
As this tribute comes to a close, I'd like to reference one of Blake's poems that virtually all children read before the end of their middle schools years a half century ago. It's remarkably simple in form yet its questions brim with imagination and wonder. I so hope that The Tyger is still read and heard by young students so they can remember its message over their varied lifetimes.
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire in thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger, Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake John Linnell, English, 1863
He who binds himself to a joy
Doth the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise
William Blake
from Eternity, 1803
Sources
Photos and Illustrations: wikipedia.com Blake portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. Newton, Tate Gallery, London, U.K.blakearchive.org/Blake
Text: wikipedia.com, Blake entry blakearchive.org/Blake bartleby.com/235/284.html Jacob Bronowski, A Man Without A Mask, Seeker and Warburg, London, 1944
John Rutter, the renowned British composer, conductor and arranger, turns 79 today. He is best known and loved for his choral music, the Cambridge Singers choir, and their recording label, Collegium Records. Doing an Internet search for Rutter doesn't bring up much more than the same brief biography. Though far from reclusive, the composer enjoys his privacy, but he does have a fairly active Facebook page. In addition, there is the occasional article here, and here that gives readers some insight into the man behind the music. My take on this relative dearth of information is simply that one should get to know the man through his music. Here is an anthem he wrote for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011:
Some in the classical music world, mostly in Great Britain, find Rutter's compositions to be a bit simple, repetitive, and stylistically confused. Others place him at the top among contemporary composers. I have to side with the latter appraisals. The melodies are generally simple, the harmonies beautiful, and the style affords a perfect balance of music and message. Furthermore, choirs of all sizes and skill levels perform his work to appreciative audiences everywhere. If popularity is any indicator, John Rutter's music will be enjoyed for a long, long time.
Here is the finale of Rutter's 2016 composition, Visions, a four-part work based on the theme of Jerusalem:
Here is perhaps Rutter's most recognized and popular work, his choral work based on Cecil Frances Alexander's hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful.
Today marks the birthday in 1902 of the German Expressionist film maker, Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003). If you were in school during the third quarter of the 20th century there's a likely chance you are familiar with her landmark 1935 film, Triumph of the Will. The film was frequently shown in civics classes during the Cold War as a legendary example of propaganda. It was the product of Riefenstahl's fascination with Adolph Hitler, the National Socialist movement and his desire to document the party rally in Nuremberg in 1934. It was the second film she produced for Hitler. Its success, as well as their ongoing friendship, resulted in other notable projects but nothing approached the success of Triumph of the Will. At the same time, her association with the party, its principals, and her use of the enforced labor of talented Jews brought her a brief prison term at the end of World War II. She was also shunned for three decades by the world-wide film industry.
Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler greets Leni Riefenstahl, 1934
In the last quarter of her life of 102 years she focused on still photography of nature and culture in Africa. At age 72, she developed an interested in underwater photography, became a certified diver, and went on to produce two books and one film featuring marine life.
Riefenstahl reached the heights of creativity and controversy in her lifetime. I don't expect interpretations of her legacy will change. To admire her amazing technical innovation in documentary film making one has to ignore her association with evil. It is an association she denied but the evidence was deeply embedded in her life and work. We are also left with hard evidence that she was a genius behind the camera.
Here are some highlights from her films:
The 1932 film, Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) is based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Riefenstahl directed, produced, and starred in the film. It is notable as an example of Alpine cinema, one of the first sound films to be shot on location, and the film that attracted Hitler to Riefenstahl.
Triumph of the Will (1934) is a propaganda masterpiece documenting the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg directed, co-written, produced, and edited by Riefenstahl. Its imagery has defined National Socialist leaders and the movement to this day.
The film also produced some viciously effective humor including this propaganda short by Charles A. Ridley in 1941. The Lambeth Walk dance craze swept across Europe - including Germany - after it was featured in a 1939 film. Resistance movements in German occupied territories had a dangerous but effective habit of splicing the parody into feature films and shown to local audiences that often included German soldiers. The practice infuriated The Furhrer and members of his leadership circle, especially propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Both the song and dance were eventually banned in Germany but the ridicule had already achieved its objective.
And from the prologue of Olympia (1938) her documentary - written, directed, and produced - of the famous Berlin games of 1936. Image and sound quality are marginal in this clip but the intent shines through. Viewer warning: be prepared for skimpy 1930-style thongs and bare breasts.
For an interesting assessment of Riefenstall's impact on film making, here is D.L. Booth writing in the Bright Lights Journal about the "body beautiful," particularly in the James Bond film series beginning in 1962.
Sources
Photos: portrait, Невідомо [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons with Hitler, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99035 / CC-BY-SA [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
We all know water is essential to life. At the same time we have to keep in mind that it can also sustain deadly diseases including typhoid, cholera, giardia, dysentery, e. coli, hepatitis, and salmonella. It wasn't until the late 19th century that science really began to understand diseases, their vectors, and methods of control and prevention. It's no wonder that the fermentation of beer was an early cultural practice in human history around the world. Beer was reliably safer than water. It traveled better, lasted longer, and had some medicinal properties as well. The magic molecule was alcohol.
By the 15th century and the burgeoning age of distant empires it was already apparent that ships full of soldiers and sailors needed to carry water. Unfortunately it didn't last more than a few weeks in a barrel or ceramic container under a hot tropical sun. Beer wasn't much better, nor was wine, but rum was almost perfect as a cheap, plentiful, and long-lasting alternative. In 1650, the Royal Navy introduced the tot ration, a daily amount of rum for every sailor. It was a welcome offering for crews whose work was brutal, dangerous, and little more than enslavement for those pressed into service. The practice of the rum (or tot) ration and its benefits and liabilities became an essential part of Royal Navy life. Despite a growing temperance movement in the 1870s and the increasing complexity of tasks, the practice continued until the last piping of "Up Spirits" on July 31, 1970. That day is remembered as Black Tot Day. The practice ended in Canada in 1972 and in New Zealand in 1990. Here is the story of the rum ration and its iterations throughout its more than 300 year history.
Splicing the main brace with the Royal Navy
The end of the rum ration had an enormous impact on producers in the British Empire and its territories, particularly in the Carribean. Many distillers had an association with the ration for centuries. It was a tough decision to put aside such a long tradition but all was not lost. The rum stocks were auctioned and warehoused by the new owner in Gibralter. From there, he supplied select Royal Navy vessels, Royal Air Force and Army messes, and even a few choice bars with the treasured rum. In 1979 Charles Tobias secured the rights to the original Admiralty recipe and founded Pusser's Rum, named after the Ship's Purser who oversaw its daily distribution to sailors. Here's more on the Pusser story.
The American military experience with rum closely resembles that of the Royal Navy. History tells us that both the Contiental Army and Navy had a daily rum ration. The U.S. Navy ration lasted until 1862 when temperance sentiment prevailed in Congress and the practice was abolished. The law took effect on September 1. Here is an air sung in the ward room of an unknown U.S. vessel on August 31.
Farewell To Grog
Come, messmates, pass the bottle ‘round
Our time is short, remember,
For our grog must stop and our spirits drop
On the first day of September.
Jack’s happy days will soon be gone,
To return again oh! Never,
For they’ve raised his pay five cents a day
But stopped his grog forever.
Farewell, old rye, ‘tis a sad, sad word,
But alas! It must be spoken,
The ruby cup must be given up
And the demijohn be broken.
Yet memory oft will backward turn
And dwell with fondness partial,
On the days when gin was not a sin
Nor cocktails brought courts martial.
All hands to splice the main brace call,
But splice it now in sorrow,
For the spirit-room key will be laid away
Forever on to-morrow.
"Splice the main brace" was the common response to the sound of "Up Spirits" on the bosun's pipe.
It would be fitting tonight to pour an ounce or two of rum - obviously Pusser's if you have it - and add twice the amount of water to make a grog, then find your most comfortable chair, sit back, and enjoy your tot while thinking about a great British naval tradition and the day it came to a sad end.
Sources
Photos and Illustrations: thehistoryproject.co.uk
Text: Wikipedia Imbibe!, David Wonderich, Tarcher Perigee, 2015 Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Department Library Pusser's Rum
For fantasy fiction fans this day in 1954 has great significance. It is the day that J.R.R. Tolkien'sThe Fellowship of the Ring first appeared on store shelves in the United Kingdom. The book was the first of three volumes in the high fantasy novel we know today as The Lord of the Rings. A used copy of that first edition with its original dust jacket would fetch an owner at least $6500. An autographed copy would easily be in six figures as Tolkien was a bit of an introvert and disliked autographing his books. I doubt that sum would matter much to true fans. To them the words within are priceless.
Who was the man behind this beloved three volume narrative we know as The Lord of the Rings? The 1968 BBC video below contains some footage of an interview and explores Tolkien's real and imaginary worlds. The audio is not the best so viewers may want to use earbuds or headphones.
Below is a probing, fast-paced, and well-known Tolkien interview from BBC Radio in 1964. It was first broadcast in 1971. All of Tolkien's brilliance and eccentricity is on full display in this wide-ranging look at one of the most beloved writers of the last century.
It would take a generation after his death (1973) before a cinematic version of his great work would, perhaps could, appear. The Lord of the Rings film series produced between 2001 and 2003 not only created a new generation of readers but also energized existing Tolkien fans to reexamine his work. All of this new energy and imagination has had a significant effect on the world of fiction and fiction writing. Tolkien's creative genius and the publication of Fellowship of the Ring - and The Hobbit - started the surge. We can't say with precision where that surge takes us but we can be certain that Tolkien's legacy will be enjoyed and expanded long into the years ahead.
Sources
Photo: tolkienlibrary.com
Text: wikipedia.com, J.R.R.Tolkien tolkienestate.com "Why Did Tolkien Write The Lord of the Rings," Michael Martinez, middle-earth.xenite.org
Today is St. George's Day, a festival day in much of the Christian world and in many places, including England, where St. George is recognized as a patron saint. We're happy to acknowledge his connection to England by flying the St. George's Cross - the flag of England - a dominant element in Great Britain's Union flag.
We know little about St. George's life other than his Greek origin, service in the Praetorian Guards under the Roman emperor Diocletian, and martyrdom for his Christian faith. Safe to say, he never set foot in England and his battle with any dragon remains legendary but his place as one of the most venerated saints in Christianity goes without question. In terms of his connection with England we must return to the time of the crusades and the veneration of George as a warrior for the faith. Over the centuries his association with military units and memorial organizations grew large as England took its place in the Age of Empire. Although that age has passed and England now shares it identity of sorts in the United Kingdom, St. George and England remain inseparable.
The finest expression of this fabric of faith, martyrdom, and love of country was heard across England as part of today's celebration, It comes from William Blake's Preface to Milton.
Preface to Milton from Blake's illuminated version, 1804
In a fitting conclusion for our St. George commemoration I present a rousing song from the Empire period that has survived to become a great symbol of British patriotism and pride. From Last Night at the Proms 2009, it is Rule Britainnia. sung by Dame Susan Connoly.
Rule Britainnia (Complete lyrics)
When Britain first, at heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And Guardian Angels sang this strain:
(Chorus) Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
The nations not so blest as thee Must, in their turn, to tyrants fall, While thou shalt flourish great and free: The dread and envy of them all.
(Chorus)
Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful from each foreign stroke, As the loud blast that tears the skies Serves but to root thy native oak.
(Chorus)
Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame; All their attempts to bend thee down Will but arouse thy generous flame, But work their woe and thy renown.
(Chorus)
To thee belongs the rural reign; Thy cities shall with commerce shine; All thine shall be the subject main, And every shore it circles, thine.
(Chorus)
The Muses, still with freedom found, Shall to thy happy coasts repair. Blest isle! with matchless beauty crowned, And manly hearts to guard the fair.
(Chorus)
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Sources
Text:
classicfm.com
Photos and Illustrations: Family archives Preface to Milton, public domain, wikipedia.com
The English composer, Frederick Delius, was born on this day in Yorkshire in 1862. At 24, he lived the classic story of breaking away from the family business - wool, no less - to pursue a love for the arts, in this case, music. The break was interesting for it took him first to Solano Grove and an orange plantation on the banks of the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville, Florida. Later, he would teach music in Danville, Virginia, before returning to Europe for formal education in Germany. He took the sounds of American culture with him. In 1888, he settled in Paris, later married the painter, Jelka Rosen - she painted the portrait below - and devoted his life to composition. In his last sixteen years he was tortured by the pain of a slow death from syphilis contracted during his early years in Paris. In the four years before his death in 1934, he was blind and essentially paralyzed from the neck down. He composed and completed some of his most significant work during this period, all of it reaching paper through the notations of his loyal amanuensis, Eric Fenby.
Delius patterned much of his music after that of his friend and fellow composer, Edvard Grieg, but tempered it with English impressionism, a love of naturalism, and his American experience, particularly his immersion in African American cultural themes while working on his father's grapefruit plantation. The result was a unique and demanding music for performer and listener alike and one that almost demands an acquired appreciation. From his death until the 1970's many in the classical music industry thought his compositions were "too sweet" and trapped in immature cliches. Today, his popularity continues to grow but I believe he remains an underappreciated figure in 20th century music.
Portrait of Delius by his wife, Jelka Rosen, Grez-sur-Loing, France, 1912
I first encountered Delius's music in a BBC program in 1968. The unique lyric quality of his compositions was like a magnet and there was no escape from the compelling soundscapes with such rich, complex imagery and depth. It was easy to fall under the Delius spell as a student of physical and historical geography. The appreciation increased when I began a life-long career focused on the nation's most significant and often most beautiful places.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to sit alone on a dock watching the evening move over the St. Johns River landscape not far from Solano Grove. Delius's music was in my head and all the beauty of "Old Florida" was in my heart. He had likely walked the river's edge at that very place, watched the same sun glistening on the water, heard the worker's songs blending with those of insects and the wind rustling the reeds and nearby palmettos.
Over his lifetime he would be identified with the English school of music, but would put much of that Florida experience into his work. In fact, he has a significant place in American music history having been the first classical composer to use musical themes of black Americans in the South. Those themes appear in several of his composition more than forty years before George Gershwin and Porgy and Bess.
This post opened with Song of Summer, written in 1930 when Delius was blind and paralyzed. To conclude, here are two earlier compositions. The first is from the Florida Suite, written in 1888 when he was twenty years old. Music historians agree that this piece represents the first use of black American folk idioms in classical form by a European composer. He also composed the first black opera, Koanga. (George Gershwin is most often erroneously credited with this accomplishment, but his opera, Porgy and Bess, premiered fifty years later.
The second work, In A Summer Garden, was composed in 1908. This and many other Delius works would go on to influence a number of popular music composers well into the 20th century. Perhaps the most significant of them was the iconic composer, pianist, and bandleader, Duke Ellington, whose composed - most likely with his arranger, Billy Strayhorn - In a Blue Summer Garden as a tribute.
Over forty years have passed since I watched that sunset near Solano Grove. That's a long time to explore and mature in one man's music. It remains a most satisfactory experience filled with complex brushstrokes of sound so different, immersive, and timeless.
Music is a cry of the soul. It is addressed and should appeal instantly to the soul of the listener. It is a revelation, a thing to be reverenced.
Frederick Delius
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
Delius photograph, Monographein Moderner Musiker, Leipzig, Germany: C.F. Kahnt Nachfolger, 1907. Public domain in the United States Portrait of Frederick Delius by his wife, Jelka Rosen.
Text: title, from comments by Delius biographer, Christopher Palmer, 1976
The Delius Society Before the Champions: Frederick Delius' Florida Suite for Orchestra, Mary E. Greene., M.A. Thesis, University of Miami, 2011 Radio Swiss Classic, Frederick Delius Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Frederick Delius
On this day in 1757 the British artist and writer, William Blake, was born in London. He is without a doubt my favorite anarchist. He helps me dream.
In his own time he was so eccentric his neighbors and friends thought he was a madman. As an engraver and illustrator he was caught between the decline of the guilds and the rise of industrialization. It was a time when men saw the value of their labors swept away from the cottage and into the factory under the watchful eye of the manager. For workers, the loss of autonomy, the shift in control and production, and the helplessness in the face of change led to a revolt against the Age of Reason and a rage against technologies it spawned. Blake was in the forefront of that movement but it would take almost two centuries before he would be recognized as both one whose vision, imagination and sensitivity were unmatched in the age of Romanticism and a truly unique influence in the history of the Western world.
There is one certainty about Blake's work and that is its complexity. He is by far one of the most interesting visionaries to come out of the West and its traditions. I hope you will take time to examine him and his extraordinary contributions to our experience. To explore his work appropriately is beyond the intent of this blog and capability of its author. For readers who want to learn more about Blake, to me there's no finer work available than Jacob Bronowski's A Man Without A Mask, published in 1944, and it's expanded version, William Blake and the Age of Revolution, published in 1972.
William Blake Thomas Phillips, English, 1807
I have learned much from the artist and philosopher, William Blake, in an effort to balance my life between intellect and emotion. So far it's been a beautiful, productive, and fascinating journey. These works have been a part of that experience:
In the following illustration, The Ancient of Days, Blake depicts his character, Urizen, [You rising] as reason shaping the world and its experience. This engraving is also interpreted as God the Father [and often God the Son] as divining existence. It is a prime example of the complex and often confounding world of Blake's imagination.
The Ancient of Days William Blake, 1793
In the following engraving Blake depicts Isaac Newton [and the Age of Reason] at the bottom of the sea shaping - the dividers, once more - the world of humankind on the earth. Newton has turned his back on the organic beauty of God's natural world.
Newton William Blake, 1795
Here, the Angel of Peace descends forcibly out of heaven illustrating God's reason -the dividers - brought into the world in the form of his Son to reconcile Nature (the recline female nude) and a redeemed humanity.
The Descent of Peace William Blake, ca. 1815
One of Blake's most familiar pieces is his preface to Milton A Poem. The preface says much about Blake's philosophy opposing the Age of Reason as embodied in Greek and Roman thought and the dangers a reliance on intellect can bring to a world based equally on emotion. Furthermore, the preface is a perfect illustration of Blake's religious mysticism as well as his veneration of Milton.
The stolen and perverted writings of Homer and Ovid, of Plato and Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible; but when the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right, and those grand works of the more ancient, and consciously and professedly Inspired men will hold their proper rank, and the Daughters of Memory shall become the Daughters of Inspiration, Shakspeare and Milton were curb'd by the general malady and infection from the silly Greek and Latin slaves of the sword. Rouse up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant hirelings! For we have hirelings in the camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress mental, and prolong corporeal war. Painters! on you I call. Sculptors! Architects! suffer not the fashionable fools to depress your powers by the prices they pretend to give for contemptible works, or the expensive advertising boasts that they make of such works; believe Christ and His Apostles that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. We do not want either Greek or Roman models if we are but just and true to our own Imaginations, those Worlds of Eternity in which we shall live for ever, in Jesus our Lord.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills.
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets. Numbers xi, ch. 26
Readers may be more familiar with Blake's poem through this medium:
As this tribute comes to a close, I'd like to reference one of Blake's poems that virtually all children read before the end of their middle schools years a half century ago. It's remarkably simple in form yet its questions brim with imagination and wonder. I so hope that The Tyger is still read and heard by young students so they can remember its message over their varied lifetimes.
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire in thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger, Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake John Linnell, English, 1863
He who binds himself to a joy
Doth the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sunrise
from Eternity, William Blake, 1803
Sources
Photos and Illustrations: wikipedia.com Blake portrait, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. Newton, Tate Gallery, London, U.K.blakearchive.org/Blake
Text: wikipedia.com, Blake entry blakearchive.org/Blake bartleby.com/235/284.html Jacob Bronowski, A Man Without A Mask, Seeker and Warburg, London, 1944
