Sylvia Townsend Warner - 5 July, 1961

from The diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner, page 274:

I sat for a while listening to No (h) play; [...] extraordinarily slow, belching, hideous declamation and arioso, both solo and chorus, the very antithesis of the delicacy & poignancy of the text: like Papal Bulls and Papal Pigs roaring, squealing & grunting: and very beautiful snatches of a mad-scene flute; and those wooden hammers urging it on.  It is almost unassimilable, would be quite, if it had not an authority of extreme technique and tradition.

cite as

Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Claire Harman (ed.), The diaries of Sylvia Townsend Warner (:London, 1995), p. 274. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1443448736352 accessed: 29 March, 2024

Listeners

Sylvia Townsend Warner
Musicologist, Writer
1893-1978

Experience Information

Date/Time 5 July, 1961
Listening Environment in private, indoors

Originally submitted by Jo Reardon on Mon, 28 Sep 2015 14:58:56 +0100
Approved on Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:41:52 +0000