h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Rod,

I've been given your fine entry The Lost Chord to subedit, and the latest version is here: A30777438

I'd like to add something to the first sentence to explain the impact of this song - to grab the reader. Can you tell me why the song is special to you? You go on to describe the blend of music and lyrics, Caruso's performances, and Edison's historic recordings, but what is it about the song that makes it special?

I just looked up Arthur Sullivan in Groves, and it says the following, which may be of interest. Let me know if any of it is worth a mention:

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"Posthumous reputation".

Performances of Sullivan's work abroad – orchestral and choral pieces had been given in Paris, Berlin, Leipzig, Boston, New York and Chicago – confirmed the esteem in which his countrymen held him. There had never been a British composer so widely known in such a variety of music, one so capable of filling the needs of Victorian Britain with its universality of domestic pianos, its cheap vocal scores and songsheets, and its ubiquitous choral societies and bands.

But among the critics, academics and other formers of musical taste, disparagement of Sullivan's status began virtually with his death. The obituary by Fuller Maitland in The Cornhill Magazine (C1901) recognized the skill of the operettas but accused him of prostituting his talents:

...

The first edition of Ernest Walker's History of Music in England (1907) not only applied the term ‘disgraceful rubbish’ to such songs as The Lost Chord and The Sailor's Grave but also impugned the artistic worth of his concert works. Sullivan was labelled as ‘after all, the idle singer of an empty evening’ (a reference to William Morris's self-deprecation as ‘the idle singer of an empty day’).

...

Since the 1950s, however, when the label ‘Victorian’ had ceased to be derisive in musical and general contexts, a steady if unsensational rehabilitation has been in progress. ... A major defence of Sullivan's art was raised in various writings by the British (American-resident) scholar Nicholas Temperley, in whose general survey (D1981) of British music between 1800 and 1914 The Lost Chord is described as ‘Sullivan's maligned masterpiece’.

...

***

Finally, do you think an extended title would improve it (eg "The Lost Chord - Sullivan's Maligned Masterpiece") and if so, is there anything you would suggest?

Icy

Hello Icy,

My goodness, you people earn your eSalaries - all that research!

My comments - easiest first:

Heading "Arthur Sullivan", 1st sentence, please add a comma after known: "Arthur Sullivan is rather better known, as one half of..."

- less easy:
Its impact was some years after my father used to sing it, self-accompanied on a harmonium, as part of his attempt to introduce me to 'good' music. I don't remember any particular circumstances, just a chance hearing in an incongruous setting, in my early teens... Paul Robeson, I think.

Not, I think, significant - no tragedy, just an everyday sub-micro epiphany.

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"Posthumous reputation" etc :

I don't see that lot fitting in without requiring a whole lot more sideline stuff which would, I feel, change it too much.
Fuller Maitland and his ilk sound pretty much like today's knockers - making a cheap reputation by trying to ruin others'. Knocking's easy. Creating ain't.

- the piece was, I think, maligned only after his death and subsequently restored to favour. He died in 1900, fifty-ish years before the 1950s you mention - which in turn were fifty-ish years before now. It's had, say, 75 years in favour vs 50 out of it. Harrumph.

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The title: "The Lost Chord - the original" I'd go with that if you feel it needs more.

Thanks Rod,

I'll add that comma, but I've changed the sentence to "Of the two contributors, Arthur Sullivan is rather better known, as..."

I've changed the first sentence to "The Lost Chord is a well-known and much-loved 19th Century song - a setting by Arthur S Sullivan (1842-1900) of words by poet Adelaide A Procter (1825-1864)." Hope this is OK.

I won't add any of the Groves information.

I won't change the title, but there's a risk the Editors may well change it to "The Lost Chord - The Song", as this format is used elsewhere in the Guide. I don't think adding "the original" adds anything, really.

I've had a rummage through your links, and replaced some of them with h2g2 links (and added a few more).

Again, let me know if you're happy with this, and I'll send it back.

Icy

That'll do nicely, Icy.

Thank you for your work

Rod

Into Room 101 it goes, then...

*pulls lever*

Icy