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31 Mar 01 - 01:18 PM (#430040) Subject: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: Dave Swan Now I've got nothing against shape note singing, been know to do it myself. I cracked up when I ran across this quote from the sage of Baltimore who said that shape note "sounds like a cross between a steam calliope and a Ukranian peasant chorus." Maybe I've been doing it right after all... D |
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31 Mar 01 - 01:19 PM (#430041) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: Dave Swan Make that KNOWN to do it. Blast. Joe, can you help me out with a quick fix? Jeri? Anybody? |
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31 Mar 01 - 02:58 PM (#430106) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: GUEST Mencken's eyes and ears never did work right. I think he must have been an illegimate son of Ambrose Bierce. |
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01 Apr 01 - 02:51 PM (#430674) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: Uncle_DaveO Guest, PLEASE tell me that characterization of H.L. Mencken was your original! It's great! (Spoken as a great fan of both A.B. and H.L.M.) Dave Oesterreich |
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01 Apr 01 - 03:59 PM (#430724) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: GUEST So far as I know, but it's so obvious that it's probably been re-invented about a hundred times. |
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07 Mar 06 - 11:10 AM (#1687343) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: GUEST,John Garst I think that the "steam calliope/peasant chorus" quote actually belongs to Alan Lomax, not Mencken. I have a vague recollection that Mencken may have characterized Sacred Harp singing as "whining." |
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07 Mar 06 - 11:36 AM (#1687370) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: GUEST,leeneia Well, the snideness is self-evident. But how did a Ukrainian peasant chorus sound in Mencken's time? What does any of this actually mean in terms of musical performance? Mencken probably had no idea. He just thought that if he said "peasant" and named a poor, foreign country, he had conveyed cutting contempt. Did you see the movie Winged Migration? The deep, powerful sound of male voices which you hear during the Gtand Canyon scene comes from a Bulgarian (or was it Romanian) men's choir. I am just back from a weekend in Las Vegas, and nothing I heard there could compete with that music for beauty. I say to hell with 'em. |
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07 Mar 06 - 06:43 PM (#1687772) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: michaelr If you went to Las Vegas for any sort of beauty, you must have been misinformed. ;-) Michael |
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07 Mar 06 - 06:53 PM (#1687783) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: McGrath of Harlow "steam calliope/Ukrainian peasant chorus" sounds much more like admiration rather than "snideness", so Alan Lomax sounds a likely source for it. |
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08 Mar 06 - 05:42 PM (#1688607) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: Burke Lomax would have known what a Ukrainian peasant chorus sounded like. He also liked Shape Note singing, so I agree that there's no snideness in his attitude. Mencken OTOH.... |
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09 Mar 06 - 10:25 AM (#1689204) Subject: RE: H.L. Mencken on Shape Note From: GUEST,leeneia "If you went to Las Vegas for any sort of beauty, you must have been misinformed." Heavens, no. I was dragged there against my will. I mentioned the music in Vegas to contrast the irritating stuff that people have come to accept as popular music with the the beautiful sonority of the men's choir. I did hear one piece that I enjoyed, "Time to Say Good-bye" with Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. However, you have to imagine the the water jets at the Bellagio going off at the same time. Laaa la-la laaa la-la la laaaaa... BOOH DA BOOH DA BOOH DA BOOH DA BOOM! |