About Voice

Olivier, Lord Laurence. On Acting. Riverside, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Simon & Schuster, 1986. ISBN: 0671558692

First edition FIRST EDITION SECOND PRINTING. 297 pages with index. Black & white photo illustrated. The book is VERY GOOD. Slightly cocked spine and wear to board edges. The dust jacket is VERY GOOD with wear to jacket edges. NOT Price-clipped. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke & Duchess of Windsor. Dust jacket notes read: "Here is the greatest actor of our age, talking knowingly, intimately, brilliantly about his profession. On Acting is one of those rare books in which a complete master of his craft explains in captivating detail-and shows us through his own career-what makes a great actor. It is not only a personal account, but one that gives the reader an extraordinary glimpse into the mind, the soul, the heart of an actor. Never afraid to take big risks, Olivier has applied his genius not only to the most sublime roles of the classical theater but also to some of the most daring and experimental parts the modern theater can provide. His unique wealth of experience, insight and wisdom on the art of acting is unmatched. Olivier describes his own training; his early years in the theater; his youthful success as a romantic leading man; his first brush with the movies; his growing strength and originality as an actor, able to take on both Heathcliff (and hollywood stardom) in Selznick's movie of Wuthering Heights and, soon afterward, Henry V, in his own immortal motion-picture classic. He writes in depth about his years at the Old Vic and later at the National Theatre, where time and time again he made theatrical history. With great frankness and charm, Olivier discusses, analyses, replays the great roles of his illustrious career: . on Hamlet-'Pound for pound, in my opinion, the greatest play ever written. . . . I'll never play him again, of course, but by God, I wish I could:' . on Othello-'lt's a very badly designed role; for instance there are too many climaxes. . . :' . on Shylock, in The Merchant ofimke-'My performance remained contained in uprightness and civility until Jessica was stolen away, and then, with justification, went slowly demented. . . . The pound of flesh was nothing compared with the abduction From that moment onward I let the fury and rages come:' . on Richard 111-'1 had to exercise a lot before I started to know if I could take the big stuff on that voice without losing it That sort of thin voice and that particularly pedantic way of speaking-rather school-masterish, a little sanctimonious-was of course dead against the character, which made it a little more musing, therefore more hypocritical:' . on King Lear-'When you've the strength for it, you're too young; when you've the age, you're too old..the Romeo syndrome in reverse:' . on Archie Rice, in The Entertalner-"Here, everything had to be slightly out of kilter, and yet the actor inside me still had to hold the audience:' . on James Tyrone, in Long Day's Joumey Into Night-"The part is one of the richest ever written: very long, but nearly perfect. The repetition's a challenge, a delicious problem to overcome-but then, enjoy challenges:' There is no aspect of acting which does not engage Olivier's enthusiastic attention: . On the problems of vocal interpretation: "I felt that Othello spoke quite differently from any other character in Shakespeare: he speaks like a foreigner who's learned the language too carefully:' . On exercise: "Essential when you're working in front of an audience in the evening. . . . As Hamlet you must be at top energy level for four hours or more, then complete the evening with a sword fight. . . :' . On the younger generation of actors: "Acting styles change about every fifteen years, and they are invariably linked with social and political change:' . On the various media he has mastered over the years: "Film is the director's medium, television the writer's, but theater is the actor's. . . . There is nothing the director or author can do once the house lights dim and the curtain goes up:' Nobody has ever written better on the loneliest and the , most dazzling of the arts. Iconoclastic, yet a great respecter of the conventions, a man who could play Lear in his own old age with as much energy and force as he brought to Hamlet in his youth, Olivier is the most articulate, perceptive and analytic of actors. He IS that rarity, a great artist who has not only excelled in his craft, but who can write about it with lucid clarity, and with the style, grace, erudition, gift for anecdote and passion for the truth that are unmistakably the authentic voice of Laurence Olivier." Hard Back condition: Very Good in Very Good dj

[SW: Biography/Autobiography]

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Amanda J. Weidman Illustrator: NA: Singing the Classical Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South India, Seagull Books 2007 ISBN: 9788170463191

New Softcover NA While Karnatic music, a form of Indian music based on the melodic principles of raga and time cycles called tala, is known today as South IndiaaEUR s classical music, its status as aEURoeclassicalaEUR is an early twentieth-century cosntruct, one that emerged in the crucible of colonial modernity, nationalist ideology, and South Asian regional politics. As Amanda J. Weidman demonstrates, in order for Karnatic music to be considered classical music, it needed to be modeled on Western classical music, with its system of notation, composers, compositions, conservatories, and concerts. At the same time, it needed to remain distinctively Indian. Weidman argues that the contradictory imperatives led to the emergence of a particular aEURoepolitics of voice,aEUR in which the voice came to stand for authenticity and Indianness. Combining ethnographic observation derived from her experience as a student and performer of South Indian music with close readings of archival materials, Weidman traces the emergence of this politics of voice through compelling analyses of the relationship between vocal sound and instrumental imitation, conventions of performance and staging, the status of women as performers, debates about language and music, and the relationship between oral tradition and technologies of printing and sound reproduction. Through her sustained exploration of the way aEURoevoiceaEUR is elaborated as a trope of modern subjectivity, national identity, and cultural authenticity, Weidman provides a model for thinking about the voice in anthropological and historical terms. In so doing, she shows that modernity is characterized as much by particular ideas about orality, aurality, and the voice as it is by regimes of visuality. Printed Pages: 368. First edition

[SW: Singing the Classical Voicing the Modern: The Postcolonial Politics of Music in South IndiaAmanda J. Weidman9788170463191]

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DANIELPOUR, Richard b. 1956. An American Requiem for Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor and Baritone, Chorus (SATB) and Orchestra. Autograph musical manuscript.
"Richard Danielpour has become one of the most sought-after composers of his generation - a composer whose distinctive American voice is part of a rich neo-Romantic heritage with influences from pivotal composers like Britten, Copland, Bernstein, and Barber. His works are solidly rooted in the soil of tradition, yet [sing] with an optimistic voice for today [they] speak to the heart as well as the mind." www.schirmer.com
"This work is for all American heroes-and for all those who support them. When I began writing An American Requiem, I, of course, had no idea what would eventually occur on September 11, 2001. Nevertheless, I feel it is appropriate to share with you some of the ideas that precipitated the composition of this work. "
"My initial interest in writing the piece that became An American Requiem began in 1998 when I started to establish dialogues with American veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. It became immediately apparent to me that, in my life, I had completely missed anything having to do directly with the experiences that had shaped, and in some ways, defined the lives of these servicemen. I was born eleven years after the end of World War II and had just entered Oberlin College when the Vietnam War was drawing to a close. And while the war in Southeast Asia and the domestic crises that had pervaded most of the sixties and early seventies was known to me as a child and adolescent, the experiences and their implications were taken in from a distance."
"As I continued to conduct these informal interviews, I found myself in the presence of individuals with an integrity and nobility of heart that I had rarely seen in my own generation. I gradually began to understand why such cliched phrases that I had heard as a child (i.e. "the quality of courage" and "the supreme sacrifice") had existed in the first place."
"Initially, some of what I had experienced in my talks with Vietnam vets proved to be confusing rather than clarifying. Having grown up during Vietnam and in the time of the assassinations of both the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King Jr., I naturally had a great skepticism about a war that was driven by economic and political agendas. But eventually, I began to understand that regardless of which war was being discussed, there emerged a constant thread throughout my encounters with these veterans: namely their integrity, vigilance, and inner resolve to give of themselves, and indeed, to lay down their lives for their fellow soldiers if the need arose. "
"Another common insight that the veterans spoke of was their belief in the absolute hellishness and insanity that exists in a state of war. It is still my hope, although it will certainly not occur in our lifetime, that war will be seen as an obsolete alternative to solving the world's problems. From where I stand, the soldiers who have seen action are perhaps the most qualified to be ambassadors of peace in the world, for it is these individuals who have seen firsthand the darkest side of humanity."
"And so, An American Requiem began as both a tribute to the American soldier and an examination of the insanity we call war. In choosing my texts, I sought to juxtapose the personal, private issues that arose out of these campaigns, with the more public, global and philosophical ones. It is for this reason that the work is sung by a large chorus as well as three solo voices; and, it is also for this reason that the work is in two languages. The Latin texts from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass are usually given to the chorus (while sometimes sung by the soloists), while the American poems that were set are always given to the soloists either individually or in ensemble. The Latin Requiem texts were used not only because they represent a spiritual dimension (involving man's relationship to a Supreme Being in the face of death), but also because it is an archetypical language traversing both ancient and modern cultures. I also found the invoked images of the Apocalypse and the spiritual hell and fear of annihilation to be an appropriate reflection of the hell on earth that is experienced in war. In some sense An American Requiem is not only about our relationship to war, but also our relationship to death as a part of life."
"The texts in English, from Whitman, Emerson, Michael Harper, Hilda Doolittle (known as H.D.) and an anonymous Afro-American spiritual, were chosen to bring these issues into a more personal light. The inclusion of a female soloist-the mezzo-soprano-indicates that the work is not only about soldiers but also about their families, and in essence the witnesses and survivors of such events."
"Work on the piece began in Bellagio, Italy (at the Rockefeller Foundation on Lake Como) on September 22, 2000; the orchestration, largely done in New York City, was essentially finished by June 1, 2001, but the entire work was actually not completed until September 20, 2001 in Peekskill, New York. An American Requiem is scored for: Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Baritone; SATB chorus; 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo, one doubling alto flute), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 3 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns (two doubling Wagner tubas in F), 3 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 5 percussion, piano (doubling celeste), harp, string orchestra, and 6 offstage trombones. "
"On the early morning of September 11, 2001, I had just opened a package containing the orchestral engraving of An American Requiem to edit for the upcoming premiere. I knew, because of the length of the work (60') and the large forces required for performing it, that editing would be a long process. The first thing I noticed however was that there was no dedication on the first page. I had evidently not been able to come up with the appropriate words or way to inscribe such a dedication. Around 9:10 am, I called my publisher G. Schirmer to speak with my editor about the issue of the missing inscription, and eventually found myself on the phone with Deborah Horne, who works in the Promotion Department at Schirmer. She explained to me, that just two minutes earlier, she had witnessed from her office window in downtown Manhattan the second of two jets that had exploded into the World Trade Center. In the ensuing days as I edited and finalized the score of my work, I had in the most disquieting and disturbing way found my dedication." Richard Danielpour, October 17, 2001

Part I: Kyrie thru the beginning of the Sanctus; Part II: Sanctus.
62 pp. + one additional leaf laid down to rear inner cover; 32 pp., for a total of 95 pp. Virtually complete.
Notated in pencil in two 64-page, 18- stave orchestral sketchbooks measuring 12" x 16-1/2", with markings in red crayon.

[SW: Autograph 21st Century American]

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DANIELPOUR, Richard b. 1956. Songs of Solitude (Yeats Songs) for Baritone Soloist and Orchestra. Autograph musical manuscript. 2001.
"Richard Danielpour has become one of the most sought-after composers of his generation - a composer whose distinctive American voice is part of a rich neo-Romantic heritage with influences from pivotal composers like Britten, Copland, Bernstein, and Barber. His works are solidly rooted in the soil of tradition, yet [sing] with an optimistic voice for today [they] speak to the heart as well as the mind." www.schirmer.com
"On a Monday morning about three years ago, Richard Danielpour arrived in the small Hudson River Valley town of Cortlandt Manor, New York, to begin an unusual kind of composer residency. He was to live by himself for several weeks in Copland House, the former home of Aaron Copland, and get some serious composing work done. Unlike other resident fellowships - at Tanglewood, say, or Yaddo, or the MacDowell Colony - this one offered no companionship with fellow artists, only hours of solitude and communion with the spirit of the late American master, whose favorite river views and simple furnishings had been lovingly preserved in the house. "Copland's house was like his music," Mr. Danielpour recalls. "Everything was plain, nothing was there but what was needed. He once said that the art of orchestration was taking things away." The date, that Monday, was September 10, 2001. "
"Mr. Danielpour had brought two projects with him to Copland House. The first was examining and correcting the galley proofs of An American Requiem, the large-scale work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra that had occupied him since the previous September. Then, as time permitted, he would tackle a new commission from the Philadelphia Orchestra for the baritone Thomas Hampson. He bad brought along two possible texts for the new work, each consisting of a selection of poems: one by the 14th-century Persian poet Rumi, and another by the 20th-century Irish writer William Butler Yeats. "
"An American Requiem, as the composer describes it, is "an examination of why we traverse borders in order to kill other people." In the course of interviewing U.S. veterans who had served in wars from World War II to Operation Desert Storm, he said, "I found that my respect for these men went through the roof, but I became all the more adamant about war as a form of insanity." All that may have seemed a faraway prospect on the morning of September 11, as the sun poured into the large windows of the Copland studio, and Mr. Danielpour spread his proofs our on the late composer's work desk. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., he phoned his publisher, G. Schirmer, whose offices are located in downtown Manhattan, and he learned of the airplane attacks on the World Trade Center. After talking to various Schirmer staff members for half an hour, and hearing the grief and fear in their voices, he found the house's television set and turned it on, in time to watch the twin towers fall. "
"Many of us who work in the arts remember the days and weeks after September 11 as a time of shock and temporary paralysis, when there seemed to be no words or images or notes that could express the new and terrible world we were living in. Mr. Danielpour's situation, as he looked at his completed American Requiem, was different. "In a way," he says of that dreadful morning, "I was already in it before it happened. We had never experienced this on our own soil. But I had been trying to ask 'Why war?' for a whole year. And I was alone there. Had I been with other people, I might not have been able to work." In 10 days, he finished editing the proofs of the Requiem. "
"The new work for Philadelphia and Mr. Hampson was next, and now the Yeats poems asserted their claim. Although the Irish poet often wrote about the bloody communal passions of his era, there is, Mr. Danielpour says, "a quality of aloneness in these poems. And this is the most isolated I've been when writing a piece." His first reading of Yeats's apocalyptic poem "The Second Coming" during his student days remained a vivid memory, and now he finally felt ready to attempt a musical setting of it. Furthermore, he says, "I had mentioned to 'Tom Hampson a couple of years before, that I would probably do Yeats for him." Far from paralyzed by events, Mr. Danielpour sketched all six movements of Songs of Solitude at Copland House by October 5. He completed the work during a MacDowell residency the following December and January - in record time, by his standards. "
"During the work's composition, Mr. Danielpour says, "I became aware that I was locking onto those stages of grief that [the psychiatrist Elisabeth] Kubler-Ross wrote about in On Death and Dying - anger, denial, resignation, and the rest. There isn't a literal correspondence, bar by bar, but the music deals with them all in some way." For example, the work's third movement, "Drinking Song" (a setting of Yeats's poem "Blood and the Moon") sounds, the composer says, "as if it were sung by someone who's had a few too many. Over that jazzy walking bass, you hear the rage inside the bitter joke." "
"According to Mr. Danielpour, Thomas Hampson's particular gifts have left their mark on this score. "I've always wanted to write something for him to sing completely a capella, without accompaniment, because he's so good at that. I almost did that in the fourth sung, 'These Are the Clouds,' where there's only that D-flat on the chime, sounding a knell, the way they do in Italy when somebody dies. And he has this remarkable voix mixe - very soft high notes, not quite falsetto, which I used in 'The Second Coming.'" The composer also credits Mr. Hampson, to whom this work is dedicated, for many helpful suggestions about the use of breathing for expression in a sung text."
"Richard Danielpour, who by his own description made his reputation with "layered and rich" orchestral scores, cites his encounter with Yeats's spare verse, Copland's economical style, and Mr. Hampson's artistry, as giving him a different, and he hopes deeper, perspective on composition. "An American Requiem and Songs of Solitude," he says, "were the last two works before I started my opera" - that is, Margaret Garner, composed to a libretto by Toni Morrison, and scheduled for premieres in 2005 and 2006 by the commissioning opera companies in Michigan, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia. "Those pieces taught me that it's not what you put in the score, it's what you leave out." And so Songs of Solitude, a document of loss from a time of loss, may prove to be an artistic gain for both composer and listener. " David Wright ________________________________________

42 pp. Notated in pencil in two 64-page, 18-stave orchestral sketchbooks measuring 12" x 16-1/2", with markings in red and blue crayon.

[SW: Autograph 21st Century American]

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