Setting poetry to music Options

[rus bowden]

"The author's conviction on this day of New Year is that music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance; that poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music; but this must not be taken as implying that all good music is dance music or all poetry lyric. Bach and Mozart are never too far from physical movement." [--Ezra Pound]

Last night, Poetry & Poets in Rags linked to the following article that begins by featuring William Butler Yeats's poem "The Stolen Child" set to music by Loreena McKennitt:

WaarMaarRaar: Deep Thought

Today, another article appeared on the web that highlights McKennitt's musical association with poetry:

The Columbus Dispatch: Exotic sounds infuse Celtic melodies

She is quoted as saying:

"I look for particular kinds of poems. First of all, they must resonate within the banner of the rough theme that I might be working on. . . . The second thing is looking at the imagery. I love to find a very strong imagery. . . . One is also looking at the pragmatic things: Are the phrases of the poem singable? Because sometimes you get wonderful poems but they can be misery to sing."

This past June, Poetry & Poets in Rags linked to this article by Sam Sadigursky:

All About Jazz: Jazz and Poetry: The Words Project

The Words Project is about setting poetry to music, specifically jazz. Here is Sadigursky's website: http://www.samsadigursky.com. Click Enter to go further into the site and you will hear his music. Click on "Listen" to select tracks.

In the article he writes:

"Basing a composition on a poem presents a multitude of challenges artistically and musically. A poem, regardless of form or verse, exists on its own, its own entity, possessing a rhyme, rhythm and a music within. I constantly ask myself whether poets actually want this done to their work. It can often feel like clothing a great nude sculpture or framing an unframed work of art and thus must be approached with great delicacy. "

On Sadigursky's title webpage, there is this quote from Brad Walseth:

"Words and music--a union not always equal or necessarily tranquil. Serious words, expressing perceptive thought in an artful way is hardly the norm in jazz or any music, especially since music is generally constrained by beats and measures in a way much modern poetry is not. As such, the combination of the arts of poetry and music is a rarely attempted feat and one that is hardly ever pulled off successfully, with most lyricists reverting to moon and June rhymes and shallow platitudes. Thankfully, Sam Sadigursky’s The Words Project is the exception to this norm in its brilliant combination of poems by poets like Donald Justice, Paul Auster, and Maxine Kumin. . . a satisfyingly emotional and haunting experience"

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