Good lines: perfect chords

   

    "Writing held little interest for me before I began this memoir; I always found its melody too linear. In music, the composer can make several voices speak at once. Beneath the upper register that sets the tone, there may be a concurrence of other melodies, signifying sadness or reflection, gaiety or religious devotion, like those dazzling In Nomine pieces by Bull or Sweelinck: in these, the solemn plainsong, played in the lowest register with the left hand, may be heard beneath the variations, fantasies, trills and flights of fancy expressed by the right hand. With writing, it is difficult to make several voices heard at the same time; perfect chords in literature are the work of rare geniuses, and even they cannot be relied upon: Master Shakespeare achieved it in Hamlet or Lear, Messire de Montaigne on a few of his pages, Francesco Petrarca, Torquato Tasso and Thomas Wyatt in some of their poems. But one rarely finds such complex melodies on the written page.

    Now that I have myself begun to write, I understand much better how hard it is."

    From Tregian's Ground by Anne Cuneo.

Comments

[Freda]

What a fascinating passage this is - I love exploring the similarities and the differences between the different arts.

[Rose]

So random, but just had to tell someone. I'm giving my 23 year old daughter The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District by James Rebanks for Easter.

[Cornflower]

So do I!

[Cornflower]

That's on my wish list, Rose! Judging by what I've seen in the press by/about James Rebanks, I think it will be extremely interesting, and I hope your daughter will love it.