Men of genius

“Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1849), Kavanagh, London: George Slater, p.49.  https://books.google.com.au/books?id=i8ENAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed 4 September 2021.


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Blessed the People the Lord has Chosen (Setting II) – Psalm 32 (33)
Title: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen (setting ii) Text: Psalm 32 (33) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
The Battle of the Somme
Title: The Battle of the Somme Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 download (25 tracks; 73:00) Related products: – Full score (PDF download). 80 pages. Background: In 1916 France was struggling to fend off German occupation. It had become apparent that to break the stalemate Britain may need to increase […]
The tragedy of music
“The tragedy of music is that it begins with perfection.” – Morton Feldman, American composer. Cited in a May 1976 interview, Studio International, November 1976, pp. 244-248.
Performers and performances
Recordings
Lord,When Your Glory Appears (Setting II) – Psalm 16 (17)
Title: Lord, when your glory appears (Setting II) Text: Psalm 16 (17): 1, 5-6, 8, 15 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Widmann on Brahms
Widmann, a Swiss poet, describes Brahms’ performing at the piano: The broad leonine chest, the Herculean shoulders, the mighty head which the player sometimes threw back with an energetic jerk, the pensive, handsome brow that seemed to radiate an inner illumination, and the Germanic eyes which scintillated with a wondrous fire between their fair lashes […]
Ravel’s fine attributes as a composer
On his tour to America in 1928, Ravel was highly praised by music critics.  In the New York Times, Olin Downeswrote: Never to have composed in undue haste; never to have offered the public a piece of unfinished work; to have experienced life as an observant and keenly interested beholder, and to have fashioned certain […]
Art isn’t your pet
"Art isn't your pet – it's your kid.  It grows up and talks back to you."  Joss Whedon, screenwriter
A play for dogs
“Satie said, ‘I want to make a play for dogs, and I [already] have the staging planned. The curtain rises to reveal a bone.’ Poor dogs! After all, it’s their first play. Later one will present more difficult shows to them, but one will always return to the bone.” – Jean Cocteau, playwright Cited in: […]