bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Britten and South-East Asia (1956)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
HAMBLETON: I now take you to South-East Asia, but not in actuality; only as seen musically by Benjamin Britten, whom I interviewed in his home in Aldeburgh in 1956, just after he and Peter Pears had returned from a concert tour of the world. I spoke to him generally about his tour and I found him a very accurate reporter, with the gift of recalling circumstantial details. For this programme I’ve taken the part where he speaks of the musicians, about the exotic music he heard, particularly in Siam. He began by telling me how his own music was received. BRITTEN: Many of the places you go to had quite a big European population. In Java, for instance, the audiences were predominantly Dutch, therefore the concerts were not at all unlike concerts in The Hague or Amsterdam. In Japan, of course, where the audiences were entirely Japanese, the reception to Western music is extremely exciting. It’s highly cultured and extremely enthusiastic-very choosy. If they like you they like you very much; if they don’t like you I don’t think they mince matters at all. I conducted there an orchestra, which was a fascinating experience-a very technically highly developed orchestra, but with a quality quite unlike any European or American orchestra I’ve ever heard; and that is not a criticism-that’s just a comment. Ah-where else? We had many Chinese in our audiences in Singapore and in Hong Kong, and one felt that the young Chinese particularly were extremely interested in Western music, but one must add that most of the orientals one played to were as bewildered by much of our music as one is bewildered by much of their music. HAMBLETON: Did they put any of their bewilderment into words? Did you speak to any professional musicians there, for example?
To the Music Lovers of Japan (1957)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
It gives me great pleasure to send this New Year’s greeting to the music-lovers of Japan. Although my acquaintance with Japan is very limited, the short time I have spent there remains very vividly in my mind. I was there in the early spring of 1956 for two weeks, and had the great pleasure of conducting a concert of my works with the NHK orchestra, and of giving with Mr Peter Pears (also for NHK) what in fact was our first recital for television anywhere in the world.1 We were treated with great courtesy and friendship, and I was very impressed with the high standard of playing of the orchestra, and with the players’ considerable understanding of my music. We greatly enjoyed these two concerts. In fact we were both (and I can include Mr Pears in this) astounded by the enthusiasm for and knowledge of Western music we met everywhere. One of the nicest examples of this was the excellent little group of Tokyo Madrigal Singers, under their intelligent conductor Kei [Kei-ichi] Kurosawa, which we heard at a party given for us. We even, after the serious part of the programme was over, took part light-heartedly in the singing ourselves.
On Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1959)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
AMIS: And now Purcell. No one has championed his music more than Benjamin Britten, and the first question I want to put to him is, what is it, Mr Britten, that you find so sympathetic about the music of Purcell? BRITTEN: That’s a difficult question to answer briefly. He was open to many influences, he was a practical composer, he wrote for many different occasions, he was a Church composer, a theatre composer, wrote for the home all that I find immensely sympathetic. Above all, I love his setting of words. I had never realized before I first met Purcell’s music that words could be set with such ingenuity, with such colour. AMIS: You’ve recently made a new version of his opera Dido and Aeneas that has been recorded for the BBC Transcription Service. I want to ask you why you felt it necessary to make a new version.1BRITTEN: A work like Dido is not complete in itself. As we know, the continuo, the general bass, needs realizing: it’s only a series of figures and the bass notes, therefore each generation particularly must find a new way of doing this. I’m not saying that what one does today supersedes what was done yesterday, but-except that today has a new point of view about Purcell.
On Realizing the Continua in Purcell’s Songs(1959)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
In practically every one of our concerts, given the length of three continents over the last twenty years, Peter Pears and I have included a group of Purcell’s songs. Although they were not included for chauvinistic reasons, it has been nice to find that foreign audiences accept these English songs alongside those of their own great classic song-writers. It is pleasant to get cheers at the end of Purcell’s ‘Alleluia’ in the home of Schubert and Wolf, requests for a repeat of ‘Man is for the woman made’ in the birthplace of Mozart, appreciative giggles at the end of’There’s not a swain of the Plain’ in Faure’s home town, and an impressive silence as the last bars of’Job’s Curse’ die away in Dusseldorf, where Schumann spent many years. And not only in foreign places; in England too where, to our shame, the music of Purcell is still shockingly unknown. It is unknown because so much of it is unobtainable in print, and so much of what is available is in realizations which are frankly dull and out of date. Because all Purcell’s solo songs, secular and sacred, as well as his many big scenas, have to be realized. We have these wonderful vocal parts, and fine strong basses, but nothing in between (even the figures for the harmony are often missing). If the tradition of improvisation from a figured bass were not lost, this would not be so serious, but to most people now, until a worked-out edition is available, these cold, unfilled-in lines mean nothing, and the incredible beauty and vitality, and infinite variety of these hundreds of songs go undiscovered. Therefore over these many years I have myself realized about twenty secular songs (mostly from Orpheus Britannicus), a few sacred songs, four of the big Divine Hymns (from the Harmonia Sacra) and half-a-dozen duets (some taken from the dramatic works reprinted separately by Purcell’s widow in Orpheus Britannicus)-all with piano. I have also realized for other occasions the Golden Sonata, and continua parts of the fine lcome Song of 1687, and Purcell’s masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas, for harpsichord. There is also a sequence of songs, a Suite from Orpheus Britannicus, where I realized the figured bass for strings.
Britten and Pears in Canada (1961)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
GARVIE: Mr Britten, we’ve seen you rushing from studio to studio to conduct in Vancouver these last few days, and you seem to spend a great deal of time performing with Peter Pears around the world, conducting your own works, recording them, and yet you seem to write more than most contemporary composers.1 How do you arrange your time to compose? BRITTEN: I try to keep a certain period of each year clear to write, but you know I don’t write very much; I mean compared with Schubert or Mozart or the great ones I write awfully little. PEARS: But here you are, 48, and you’ve reached Op. 62 or something; Mozart had reached Kochel 600 or something and he had been dead for fifteen years hadn’t he? BRITTEN: Yes I know. Don’t make me feel smaller than I feel already. GARVIE: Well I think it’s true though that the modern composers do write more slowly or write less. Is this something to do with the climate of the time? Is it the actual business of writing out is now much more arduous? BRITTEN: That I think is quite true. I think today, I mean to write a symphony means an orchestra very much bigger than ever Mozart or Schubert contemplated. I mean I think someone once said that there are more notes in one Wagner opera than there are words in the whole of Shakespeare; I mean whether that’s true I simply don’t know, I’ve never counted, but I think that is an indication of the complication of modern music. But I think there is another side to the question which I deplore and that is that I think so many modern composers take themselves too seriously. They will write great works all the time. I think greatness happens accidentally-that sometimes one can write a little tiny piece for children or for brass band or something like that, and it may quite easily turn out to be much more important for posterity-if one can worry about posterity-than anyone’s symphonies in B flat minor. I think Schoenberg himself said that you can’t save the world with every Adagio.
British Composers in Interview: Benjamin Britten (1963)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
SCHAFER: Born by the sea, you have returned to it to live and work in the natural environment of a fishing village. Is the physical presence of the sea an incentive for your work?BRITTEN: Yes, a very central one. To what extent its presence is a stimulus I cannot say, but I love the sea and certain works of mine communicate this affection. About three years ago I moved from my house absolutely on the edge of the sea to my present home half a mile inland.1 But I miss the old place; I often go walking by the sea and these walks are a stimulus to the extent that they help me sort out my ideas.SCHAFER: Do you have special feelings about large cities-London, for example?BRITTEN: I hate them! When I come up for a day to London to do the usualboring things, I rush about and in the end get terribly behind and utterly exhausted. Probably I don’t appreciate London. I realize that on a spring or an autumn day it can be ravishing, but as I don’t live there I don’t often have a chance to appreciate that.SCHAFER: Do you hate all cities?BRITTEN: I adore Venice, but it’s unique. I used to like Amsterdam and I enjoy my occasional visits to Copenhagen.
The Artist-to the People (1963)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
I must admit that right up to my departure for the Soviet Union I was beset with doubts whether our musical art, which has developed in national traditions different from those of Russia, would be understandable and acceptable to Soviet audiences. I am glad that my anxieties were dissolved at the very first concert. Soviet audiences are unusually musical-this I knew beforehand-but are also remarkable for the enviable breadth of their musical appreciation. They are a wonderful public.PRAVDA: What do you think, Mr Britten, about the role of the composer, and the artist in general, in present day society?BRITTEN: I think that one of the fundamental dangers in creative artistic work in our day lies in the tendency of a certain section of composers and other artists towards a departure from themes prompted by real life, towards abstract experimentation in their workshops. Instead of serving as a creative laboratory for the artistic interpretation of reality, the workshop of a different type of artist is turned into the well known ‘ivory tower’ in which he seals himself tightly off from the real world.In general I think that ‘art for art’s sake’ cannot exist. One of the principal social obligations of the artist consists of the moulding, education and development of the artistic taste of the people. Nor do I accept the division of audiences into the ‘elite’ and all the others. The works of Mozart, Bach and Shakespeare are understandable both to the former and the latter. Obviously the main point is not who the artist chooses to address himself to in his work, but what he has to say to people.
Musician of the Year (1964)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
WARRACK: Louis MacNeice once quoted you, in 1940, as saying, ‘An artist ought either to live where he has live roots or no roots at all; in England today the artist feels essentially lonely, twisted in dying roots, always in opposition to a group.’ Was this what was behind your going to America in 1939?BRITTEN: That certainly describes my feelings at the time, but the phraseology sounds more like Louis than me! OrWystanAuden-1 was terrifically under Auden’s influence at the time. He preached that one’s roots should be in ideas and people, not places or environment. Also, I was immensely depressed about Europe. I’d been vaguely political, as we all were.The Hitler pressure was mounting, and the governments seemed to be encouraging him or not standing up to him; Europe looked finished. So when Auden went off to America, in late 1938 I think, I followed as soon as I could, in the spring of 1939. Another thing was that it had been very hard to get started as a composer in England. My works had made a small impact, but there were never any number of performances. There had been some in New York and there were plans for more. I wanted to go there, to see if this meant there was a chance of getting going properly. I’d met Aaron Copland when he was in England. He’d been very nice to me and encouraged me to go to see the United States. I think I just had to abandon my roots for a while, to find out if I’d really got any at all, or to find out where they really were.
Snape Maltings Fire (1969)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
BRITTEN: Well, it looks pretty devastating-but it’s difficult at this moment to say exactly what is sound. It looks as if the walls-the brick-these marvellous brick walls, you know, which have contributed so much to the-the beauty of the sound-it looks as if they are going to be all right.1BBC: What were your feelings when you saw the devastation?BRITTEN: I’m not a poet. I can’t describe those feelings. It was-of course it’s been a terrible shock and I’m afraid it’s going to be dreadful for so many of our audience-audiences that have come, you know, to hear and see things in the Maltings this next two or three weeks-that they can’t go to any concerts or operas at the Maltings, especially as so many of them have contributed towards the cost of the rebuilding of the Maltings.BBC: Well how much is it going to cost to rebuild?BRITTEN: I don’t know yet. It’s-I should think it can’t be far off its original cost, which was, you know, in the neighbourhood of £570,000--but that’s the-engineers, Arups, are coming down this afternoon to see it, and I’m going to go back now and to walk all over it again with them so we can have some idea of the assessing of the damage.BBC: You lost your piano in this blaze. This must have been an extremely bitter blow.BRITTEN: Oh it was a bitter blow, but there are so many things gone-I mean it looks as if one of those precious double basses is gone,2 a harpsichord has gone, the costumes for some of the operas, scenery-all the rostrums which Stephen Reiss has carefully designed and planned over the years, and this lovely seating, of course, which was one of the prides of Snape-that has gone too.
John Bird: Percy Grainger (1976)
Authors: Kildea Paul 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
To have met Percy Grainger even as an old man is a cherished memory. His warmth, his originality, his charm were unforgettable, and his genial energy had already become a myth. The masterly folk-song arrangements with their acutely beautiful feeling for sound were our first musical introduction, and later the preparation of a record of his music was an exciting and revealing experience. Repeated performances strengthened our respect for his work, and our few meetings confirmed our affection and admiration for the man.It was hardly to be expected that the depth beneath the dazzling surface could be without some turbulence. In John Bird’s sympathetic and tactful biography he has beautifully balanced the brilliance and turbulence of this unbalanced genius-we are grateful to him.
Mrs Humphry Ward and the First Casualty of War
Authors: Small Helen 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
As he sat there thinking, he began in an absent-minded way to look at his evening paper. He read the news on the front page, then turned to the inner sheets. His eye fell on these words printed at the head of the column next to the leading article: To the Women of the Empire. Thoughts in War-Time. By Pearl Bellairs.’ Underneath in brackets: ‘The first of a series of inspiring and patriotic articles by Miss Bellairs, the well-known novelist.’ Dick groaned in agony ... ‘Inspiring and patriotic’: those were feeble words in which to describe Pearl’s shrilly raucous chauvinism. And the style! Christ! ... She was a public danger. It was all too frightful. (Aldous Huxley, ‘Farcical History of Richard Greenow’). Aldous Huxley’s ‘Farcical History of Richard Greenow’ (1920) is a satirical account of the life and death of a young Englishman in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Dick Greenow’s outstanding academic promise first becomes evident at preparatory school when he devours all three volumes of Mrs Humphry Ward’s Robert Elsmere (‘No length or incomprehensibility could put him off’). After studying at Aesop College (Eton), Dick goes on to read Classics at Canteloup College, Oxford, where he becomes a leading light of the Fabian Society. But at Oxford, a strange psychological disorder, first apparent at Aesop, begins to take over his life.
Kingship and the Kingis Quair
Authors: Mapstone Sally 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The murder of James I in Perth on 20 February I437 was pre ceded by a number of omens. An Irish woman stopped the king on a crossing of the water of Leith to tell him that if he continued the journey he would not return alive, a warning that tallied with a prophecy that the king himself had recently read. James also dreamt that he was attacked in his chamber by ‘a cruell serpente and an horrible toode’. And one of his squires dreamt that the king was to be murdered by Robert Graham, indeed one of his assailants. So at least testifies a contemporary account of James’s death surviving in an English translation, by John Shirley, of an untraced Latin original.
Literary History, Romanticism, and Felicia Hemans
Authors: Mcgann Jerome 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Am. How agreeably ‘historical’ we’ve all become these days. But has criticism ‘returned to history’ only to discover its ruins? Traditional historicism was difficult enough with ‘all those proper names and dates’ beneath which ‘the contemporary mind staggers’.1 These new historicisms are worse. The older forms at least prized thoroughness and coherence. But a generation of fierce scepticism has brought historicism, like the rest of literary studies, to scenes of fragmentation—Lovejoy’s splendid project turned into the disintegration of romanticisms.
The Rhetorical Feminine
Authors: Colvin Sarah 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The Rhetorical Feminine takes a fresh look at theatre - including the important new genre of opera - in early modern Germany. Central to this study is the relationship of the stage with ideas of order or social control. Early German school drama was designed to teach rhetoric to boys: a detail which has up to now been accepted by scholars without further questioning. This investigation focuses on how that rhetoric was used, with particular reference to ideas of the feminine and of the Islamic world. Both are constructed as the potentially threatening others of early modern patriarchal Christendom. In containing the threat, the stage becomes the controllable version of the early modern theatrum mundi. In opera, the dynamic of the text is supported by music. The author has found it necessary to cross the boundary of traditional literary scholarship by looking not only at the libretti, but also at the rhetoric of the score. The suggestion here is not that the construction of alterity is an isolated phenomenon in early modern Germany; men have always used their relative monopoly of the arts for self-definition. While feminist scholarship has tended to concentrate on the relevance of this for women, it has also pertained to non-Christians or `the Orient', which is often portrayed as analogous with the feminine.
The Strength of Poetry
Authors: Fenton James 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Why should a poet feel the need to be original? What is the relationship between genius and apprenticeship? James Fenton, Oxford Professor of Poetry 1994-1999 and winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, examines some of the most intriguing questions behind the making of the art - issues of creativity and the 'earning' of success, of judgement, tutorage, rivalry, and ambition. With the contextual richness of a former foreign-correspondent, Fenton goes on to consider the juvenilia of Wilfred Owen, the 'scarred' lines of Philip Larkin, the inheritance of imperialism, and issues of 'constituency' in Seamus Heaney. He looks too at Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and their contrasting 'feminisms', at D. H. Lawrence, 'welcoming the dark'; and in the end, W. H. Auden - that defining influence upon Fenton's own poetry - who receives extended coverage in the final quarter of the book. Immensely readable, The Strength of Poetry is a major account of modern poetry from one of its leading figures.
Dealing with Doubtful Identifications
Authors: West Anthony James 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
This chapter covers copies that had or have doubtful identifications and examines two possible identifications of an untraced copy (Lee 156). Overall it demonstrates the approach used in dealing with doubtful identifications. Essentially, the approach is the collection, detailed analysis, and comparison of the copy-specific characteristics of individual volumes. The Brandeis University and Walters Art Gallery cases are presented to show how the copies were identified and to permit anyone who doubts the conclusions to have the relevant information available and to follow the logic used. For copies whose identity is still doubtful, this chapter presents a record of organized data. This record is intended as a ready reference for any interested person who happens upon additional data and wants to check how it fits, and, at the same time, as a starting point for anyone who wishes to go further in proving or disproving an identification.
What to Count as a Copy and Copies 80to 82at the Folger Shakespeare Library
Authors: West Anthony James 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
‘How many copies are extant?’ —the question I most frequently encountered during my census research—seems easy enough to answer, but is not. At the outset one must distinguish ‘what to count as a copy’ (for inclusion in the Census) from ‘categorizing copies into classes’ (as Lee did in his Census).Addressing the latter in some useful form must await the availability of full details on all or most copies. This chapter addresses the former. Successive scholars have each given a total figure, but none appears to have defined what they counted as copies. In 1902, Sidney Lee recorded 158 copies, but did not deal with this issue in the introduction to his Census.In practice, he was very inclusive.
The French Translation Equivalents
Authors: Stein Gabriele 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
What does Palsgrave tell us about his aims in providing his English readers with French equivalents? How much information does he want to put at their disposal? At the end of the grammatical treatment of nouns in book ill, he explains his aim and method as follows: I shall set forthe all the englysshe substantyues in our tong/ after the order of a/b/c/ and in the same lyne shewe what substantyues in the frenche tonge is of lyke signification.