{"id":437,"date":"2013-05-13T07:30:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-12T21:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catesings.org\/?p=437"},"modified":"2013-05-13T07:30:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-12T21:30:42","slug":"monday-music-loves-philosophy-roger-quilter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/2013\/05\/13\/monday-music-loves-philosophy-roger-quilter\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Music: Love’s Philosophy (Roger Quilter)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a bit of a latecomer to Quilter, and indeed, English Art Song in general.\u00a0 But last year, when Allan’s was closing down, I saw a book of Quilter art songs on special, and thought I’d take a look inside.\u00a0 After all, one shouldn’t shun a whole genre without trying it.\u00a0 Then I opened the book, and made a marvellous discovery – Art Song in English is basically really gorgeous poems set to music!<\/p>\n

(yes, OK, I’m slow, but it hadn’t occurred to me.\u00a0 I’ve only ever sung art-song in other languages, and hadn’t really registered that the lyrics were written by Real Poets, as opposed to lyricists…)<\/p>\n

Anyway, having made this delicious connection, the first thing I did was to take the book along to my singing teacher and basically say “Where do I start?”\u00a0 And she sang me this.<\/p>\n

[youtube http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A3CDDaMAoQk&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]<\/p>\n

Isn’t it gorgeous?\u00a0 The poem is by Percy Shelley, another poet who was almost certainly stolen by the fairies, or possibly the naiads, as he drowned in a boating accident at a young age.\u00a0 I love the excitement of the music (and Baker’s amazing dexterity in singing this), but to me, it’s the words which are truly transcendent.\u00a0 I would love to sing this at a wedding.<\/p>\n

Here’s a tenor version<\/a> which I think is even more gorgeous than Baker’s, though I haven’t been able to find out who the singer is.\u00a0Edited to add: Apparently, it’s John Mark Ainsley, an English tenor.\u00a0 Also apparently, I can’t read, because it’s right there on the cover of the recording…<\/em> I love the feeling and vigour in his performance, and the way you can hear every syllable.<\/p>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

The fountains mingle with the river
\nAnd the rivers with the ocean,
\nThe winds of heaven mix for ever
\nWith a sweet emotion;
\nNothing in the world is single,
\nAll things by a law divine
\nIn one another’s being mingle –
\nWhy not I with thine?<\/p>\n

See the mountains kiss high heaven
\nAnd the waves clasp one another;
\nNo sister-flower would be forgiven
\nIf it disdain’d its brother:
\nAnd the sunlight clasps the earth,
\nAnd the moonbeams kiss the sea –
\nWhat are all these kissings worth,
\nIf thou kiss not me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m a bit of a latecomer to Quilter, and indeed, English Art Song in general.\u00a0 But last year, when Allan’s was closing down, I saw a book of Quilter art songs on special, and thought I’d take a look inside.\u00a0 After all, one shouldn’t shun a whole genre without trying it.\u00a0 Then I opened the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,347,373,451,571,620,697],"class_list":["post-437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art-song","tag-janet-baker","tag-john-mark-ainsley","tag-loves-philosophy","tag-percy-shelley","tag-roger-quilter","tag-the-mystery-tenor"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}