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Trust me, Cicero wrote it all down
It has come to my attention that I do not own enough classical music. By this I do not mean Mozart, Britten, Saint-Saëns; I mean songs on classical themes, either historical or mythological, and multiple versions of "King Orfeo" do not count. I blame ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
watermelontail for inspiring me to take inventory; I decided that I wanted to put together a mix CD of Greco-Roman stuff, and then I realized that I had a little over thirty songs, reckoned generously, and most of those were by the Mountain Goats.* So what else is out there? I know already that I need to pick up the Crüxshadows' Ethernaut (2003). I have Human Sexual Response's In a Roman Mood (1981). And I have several takes on Persephone, but who writes about Hermes or Hadrian?
There were fireworks tonight on the field between Lexington High School and the Center Playground; a carnival lit up on the grass, with fried dough and a Ferris wheel where I once walked in endless circles on a freezing May night, hot cocoa and blankets instead of stargazing and bugs. I no longer even remember what the twenty-four-hour relay was raising money for, only the cold and the conversations and the live music, because someone was fiddling "The Rights of Man." Tonight there were bats tacking back and forth between the trees, and I had never watched fireworks from the ground up before. I don't know what it is about explosions that always makes me feel better.
* Which is not any kind of aesthetic strike against them, but it does threaten the hypothetical CD with a certain lack of variety—and I don't even have quite enough to make a whole CD of John Darnielle vs. Classical Antiquity.
watermelontail for inspiring me to take inventory; I decided that I wanted to put together a mix CD of Greco-Roman stuff, and then I realized that I had a little over thirty songs, reckoned generously, and most of those were by the Mountain Goats.* So what else is out there? I know already that I need to pick up the Crüxshadows' Ethernaut (2003). I have Human Sexual Response's In a Roman Mood (1981). And I have several takes on Persephone, but who writes about Hermes or Hadrian?There were fireworks tonight on the field between Lexington High School and the Center Playground; a carnival lit up on the grass, with fried dough and a Ferris wheel where I once walked in endless circles on a freezing May night, hot cocoa and blankets instead of stargazing and bugs. I no longer even remember what the twenty-four-hour relay was raising money for, only the cold and the conversations and the live music, because someone was fiddling "The Rights of Man." Tonight there were bats tacking back and forth between the trees, and I had never watched fireworks from the ground up before. I don't know what it is about explosions that always makes me feel better.
* Which is not any kind of aesthetic strike against them, but it does threaten the hypothetical CD with a certain lack of variety—and I don't even have quite enough to make a whole CD of John Darnielle vs. Classical Antiquity.
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I have never even heard of Daemonia Nymphe, but I approve very much of their name. Thank you!
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Do not worry. Have a wonderful Fourth and weekend!
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Nine
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Check on both counts!
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because someone was fiddling "The Rights of Man."
Good thing it wasn't "The Butterfly." That thing takes forever to get out of one's head; I can attest to this cos we played it far too much a couple of weeks ago, and I've only recently managed to free myself of it.
I'll have to remember to try starting "Rights of Man" sometime in the not-too-distant. Pity, actually--it would've been perfect for the gig my friend Bill and I were supposed to be playing on Saturday, the one that got postponed til the end of the month cos they accidentally double-booked.
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So I should or should not ask you to point me toward a recording?
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Hmm... that's a difficult question.
Mostly because I don't know of it being on a recording. I'm sure it is, but I only know really know it from hearing it out and about. It's a slip jig in Eminor, and it's used a lot for stepdancing, which is why I ended up playing it a lot during the festivals, and is also why it becomes an earworm round St. Patrick's Day.
Actually, having said that, I just went and looked it up. Looks as if it's on a lot of dodgy recordings, which makes sense cos it's a common tune, but it does also appear to be both on the Bothy Band's 1975 The First and Chulrua's Barefoot on the Altar. I know I've got the latter; I'll see what I can do about finding it and copying you the track.
Well, here's a start
Tommy Potts, The Liffey Banks.
This isn't the way most play it, but Tommy was a mad great fiddler and some think he actually wrote the tune, or at least one part of it as it's played today. His playing here makes it a bit more... wild? Jumpy? Not quite, but I'm having trouble thinking of the words.
Anyhow, as I'm used to playing it--it's popular for stepdancing--it's a bit gentler, which does bring out the hypnotic quality.
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http://io9.com/5021531/the-first-ever-gynoid-is-now-complete-at-last
They found the rest of Metropolis. In Buenos Aires!
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I just—as in fifteen seconds before—saw a similar article sent by
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A number of the British dark folk bands do stuff with medieval themes (or, simply, medieval covers, Fire * Ice's first [and best] album Gilded by the Sun is half medieval covers and half original stuff that sounds medieval, and Sol Invictus has increasingly been going that way as well-- SI were also the band that broke Sally Doherty's career into the mainstream, for what it's worth).
You being a Jill Tracy fan, I assume you're already familiar with most of New Weird America, but if you're not, run, do not walk, to the record store and buy everything and anything Joanna Newsom. Ys is probably the album closest to what you're looking for, but you can find smatterings of it on any of her discs.
And I swear I've recently heard a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but I'm not turning anything up when googling. Maybe I dreamt it.
A bit of a lateral jump: Stephen Fearing. It's not explicit so much as inferenced, but I think it's there. Unfortunately, the album I'm thinking of, The Assassin's Apprentice, has been damned hard to find for the last five years or so. Depressing, because its title track is just... wow.
Also, there's the wonderful world of black metal, which is awash in that sort of thing, but really, you have to be able to stand black metal. That can be something of a chore. Ease yourself into it with Celtic Frost's two best albums, To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium, but I rush to add that I may be recommending them purely out of a sense of nostalgia; they were instrumental in my growing up to be the sociopathic asshole that I am. Once you're there, there's an entire world of Norse mythology at your fingertips-- the later Bathory albums, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, that sort of thing. Watch your step, though, because some of it can be offensive (even if only done to be "contrversial" rather than being heartfelt); steer far clear, for example, of Darkthrone and Absurd, both of whom voice strong anti-Semitic sentiment as part of the greater "all religion sucks" message. If you find yourself intrigued (or, more likely, amused) by the general feel and sound of black metal, you can get a good primer with Michael Moynihan's Lords of Chaos. And, to go full circle, Moynihan is the founder of Blood Axis, one of the bands on the fringes of the British Dark Folk movement (though he's American, and his music is on the martial end of things a la NON or early Sol Invictus, rather than the folk end).
Oh! While I'm on the subject of Moynihan, Blood Axis' touring violinist, Annabel Lee (the name should clue you in, no?) has done some solo albums that may click in, as well. She's also in about eighty-three other bands that might play. A quick check of discogs.com will steer you in the right direction, because I'mm too tired to remember any of them right now, and too lazy to look them up myself. :P (Blood Axis itself, on the other hand... how shall I put it gently... ummm, sucks. They do a mean cover-- their version of Joy Division's "Walked in Line" is phenomenal-- but their "originals", which are comprised mostly of Moynihan quoting authors at length over sampled and looped classical tunes, get really old really fast.)
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"They spoke of the garrotte and the guillotine / Iron maiden and little-ease / But all I know is how you make me feel today . . ."
Fire * Ice's first [and best] album Gilded by the Sun is half medieval covers and half original stuff that sounds medieval, and Sol Invictus has increasingly been going that way as well
Again prompted by
but if you're not, run, do not walk, to the record store and buy everything and anything Joanna Newsom.
I have her first album (and the Decemberists' cover of "Bridges & Balloons"); I haven't heard anything from her second. I shall look it up posthaste.
And I swear I've recently heard a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but I'm not turning anything up when googling. Maybe I dreamt it.
If you can confirm you heard it on the radio, I suppose you could call the station? The last two songs I did that with were Loreena McKennitt's "The Lady of Shalott" and Louise Taylor's "Miriam Bell," both of which were worth the time it took to find them. Of course, for one of these I was in high school and the other in college . . .
(Alternately, I could ask you to write it?)
A bit of a lateral jump: Stephen Fearing.
Who I have never heard of, either! You are a library.
Unfortunately, the album I'm thinking of, The Assassin's Apprentice, has been damned hard to find for the last five years or so.
It seems to be still in print.
Also, there's the wonderful world of black metal, which is awash in that sort of thing, but really, you have to be able to stand black metal.
And, to go full circle, Moynihan is the founder of Blood Axis, one of the bands on the fringes of the British Dark Folk movement (though he's American, and his music is on the martial end of things a la NON or early Sol Invictus, rather than the folk end).
I have three tracks of theirs, actually, from a concert with In Gowan Ring: "Sea Ritual," "Dead Men's Slip-Jig," and "Follow Me Up to Carlow." I like the first two, although I wasn't inspired to track down their other albums.
(Blood Axis itself, on the other hand... how shall I put it gently... ummm, sucks. They do a mean cover-- their version of Joy Division's "Walked in Line" is phenomenal-- but their "originals", which are comprised mostly of Moynihan quoting authors at length over sampled and looped classical tunes, get really old really fast.)
I feel vindicated. : P
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Good god, even I don't have a copy of that yet.
Andrew King, however, seriously annoys me.
I've got one song of his (he's on the Sol Lucet Omnibus tribute, which is, as all tributes, half great and half garbage), and I had the same reaction. I'm quite pleased that, in his day job, he's one of the non-vocal members of SI. Very, very pleased.
If you can confirm you heard it on the radio,
That would require me listening to the radio, which I avoid at all costs. On the other hand, if it ever does come to me, it'll limit my options a great deal, since I only listen to (a) college radio and (b) a horrible commercial station my wife likes. (If it was on there, she'd know about it, and she doesn't.) But it may have been at a family function, or even at the grocery store or summat...
(Alternately, I could ask you to write it?)
You could, though whether I'd acquiesce is another story. It's been far longer since I wrote a song than it has been since I wrote a poem... probably twenty years, give or take.
I could tie it in to George R. R. Martin, though...
(There does seem to be a band called Maxim who wrote a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but according to all the lyrics sites, it's an instrumental.)
nineweaving very patiently listened to me complaining last night that no one, outside of Norwegians performing death metal as Vikings (and maybe some anime), ever seemed to write songs about Loki. It is possible I'm being unfair, or at least confusing my musical subcultures.
Ja, confusion, but easy to do if you're not snuggled down in the subculture. The general rule of thumb is that black metal bands have high, screechy vocals, and death metal bands just kinda shout. (There are, of course, any number of exceptions, but at least you won't embarrass yourself with anyone who wears corpse paint to dinner, unless he's a real otaku.) Then there's doom metal, about which all I can say is that I have fallen hopelessly head over heels for a Scots outfit called Man Must Die, who are the best thing to come from Scotland since Del Amitri. (And there's a pairing you won't hear every day...)
And good god, I'd entirely forgotten about In Gowan Ring! I haven't heard the name in at least a decade, and I only ever heard one of their songs (from the Terra Serpentes comp, which probably went out of print when World Serpent went out of business, but my god, is it a must-own... Lemon Kittens/Shock Headed Peters/Karl Blake [and about five other Blake bands, I think], Sol Invictus, Death in June, IGR, Strength Through Joy, Tiny Tim, Current93, Coil, and fifteen or twenty other bands I'm not remembering right off the top of me head), but I did quite enjoy it. A more rustic Strength Through Joy, IIRC.
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Sol Invictus, "Old Londinium Weeps"
Sol Invictus, "Down the Road Slowly"
Sol Invictus, "Eve"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "Mid Summer's Dream (After W. Shakespeare) [London Version]"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "Roma (fulcro dell'Impero) [London Version]"
Rose Rovine e Amanti, "S. Michele (In Your Sword We Trust!) [London Version]"
Andrew King, "When the Bells Justle in the Tower"
Andrew King, "Polly on the Shore"
Andrew King, "London"
Enjoy!
I've got one song of his (he's on the Sol Lucet Omnibus tribute, which is, as all tributes, half great and half garbage), and I had the same reaction.
His persistence as an artist therefore puzzles me, because I haven't yet found someone I know (rather than a review online) who likes him!
I'm quite pleased that, in his day job, he's one of the non-vocal members of SI.
Oh, thank God.
You could, though whether I'd acquiesce is another story. It's been far longer since I wrote a song than it has been since I wrote a poem... probably twenty years, give or take.
All right: poem, then?
(There does seem to be a band called Maxim who wrote a song called "Hadrian's Wall", but according to all the lyrics sites, it's an instrumental.)
(Ah, well. Thank you for looking.)
I totally forgot about the gelfling!
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I have The Milk-Eyed Mender—I discovered her through "Peach, Plum, Pear," which will probably now be stuck in my head until I get home and can play something else. I will look into Ys.
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---L.
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Awesome. Thank you.
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Well, damn!
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-Bellini, Norma (Well, parts of it are sung by Romans. This one is Romans vs. Gauls, who both lose to bel canto)
-Berlioz, Les Troyens
-Cavalli, La Calisto
-Gluck, several operas, including Ifigenia in Aulide, Ifigenia in Tauride, and Orfeo ed Eurydice
-Handel, Acis and Galatea (in English, yet!)
-Handel, Semele ditto
-Handel, Giulio Cesare
-Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea (where else are you going to find two Poppea-Nero love duets? or a dialogue between Minerva and Seneca?)
-Monteverdi, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
-Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito
-Mozart, Idomeneo
-Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (Mind you, historical it is not.)
-Refice, Cecilia (okay, it's pagans vs. Christians, but still . . .)
-Sullivan, The Martyr of Antioch Yes, he composed stuff besides G&S. I've never seen or heard all of this, but I have a CD with two excerpts: a Christians vs. pagans double chorus, and a gorgeous hymn to Apollo.)
That doesn't exhaust my list, but it may not be what you were looking for. Let me know if you want more along these lines. And don't forget Princess Ida's hymn to Minerva.
Finally, if you read this far, I have a marvelous CD by the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus called "Rome's Golden Poets- A Capella Settings of Latin Verse". It lives up to its name. I highly recommend it.
(re-posted for failing at html)
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That is perhaps the best summary of the opera I have ever seen.
-Berlioz, Les Troyens
Whose recording do you have? I don't yet own one.
Yes, he composed stuff besides G&S.
I know. That's still a moment of *blink*.
Finally, if you read this far, I have a marvelous CD by the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus called "Rome's Golden Poets- A Capella Settings of Latin Verse". It lives up to its name. I highly recommend it.
Prrrr.
Thank you!
I almost slapped my head when it came up on the iPod:
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Want.
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http://www.sendspace.com/file/7ydkna
This one is not a purchased song, so they shouldn't give you a hard time about it.