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Posted

On p. 64 of Robert Craft's recent collection of memoir-like pieces "Down a Path of Wonder" this passage appears (it may also appear in the liner notes to his Naxos recording of Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra, but I don't know for sure):

“No one has written about ‘Premontions’ [the first piece of that Schoenberg work] with as much insight as Larry Kart, book editor of the Chicago Tribune:

‘The discontinuous continuity of “Premonitions” is the most extreme case in all Schoenberg. Even Erwartung is not comparable in this regard; though there is a near continuous avalanche of new material in that work, it is linked to a character, a drama, and a text, no matter how disordered all three may be. Nor does the emotional-musical texture of any Berg work seem as genuinely extreme as that of “Premonitions,’ while the eruptive-disruptive aspects of “Premonitions” have a quite different relationship to Schoenberg. It is as though this music that threatens to rend the fabric of music itself were being greeted by its maker with both delight (at the onset of an unparalleled fecundity of invention) and terror.’”

Now I did have some correspondence with Craft in the mid-1990s when he wrote a book review or two for the Trib, but I have no memory of writing the above, either to him or for publication. Also, the passage sounds a good deal more chewy and "knowing" than anything I would or could have written on the topic, especially to Craft -- though I do kind of like what it says. At first I thought it was something that Carl Dahlhaus or Charles Rosen wrote, that I quoted it to Craft, and he mistakenly thought it was something that I'd said. But I've looked in the Dahlhaus and Rosen books I have that deal with Schoenberg and don't see that passage, while there are a few fingerprints in it that could be mine (e.g. "eruptive-disruptive" -- I've indulged in such hyphenated chiming before).

In any case, if anyone has a solution to this little mystery, I'd be relieved.

Posted

Your sentences are frequently longer than those.

Nevertheless, it's good enough that it could be you.

You do "chewy" quite well, so take the money now and answer questions later!

Posted

Phrases like "the most extreme case in all Schoenberg..." and "Nor does the emotional-musical texture of any Berg work seem as genuinely extreme..." make me wonder. I know a fair amount of Schoenberg and Berg fairly well but not enough of their music that thoroughly to say things like that -- unless I were drunk or temporarily in a state of manic pretentiousness.

Posted (edited)

Wouldn't someone have had to factcheck it with you and get your permission before it was printed?

At least he and whomever was his proofreader were 3/4 on the proper spelling of "Premonitions" .

Edited by Blue Train
Posted

Wouldn't someone have had to factcheck it with you and get your permission before it was printed?

At least he and whomever was his proofreader were 3/4 on the proper spelling of "Premonitions" .

My typo/misspelling. And no need to get permission, I think, if I wrote the quoted passage to him in a letter or e-mail. And even if it had been published, fair use would apply to a passage of that length quoted in a piece on the same subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

-- unless I were drunk or temporarily in a state of manic pretentiousness.

You say that as if neither are a particularly desirable state...

The former is quite OK IMO, this side of wearing lampshades or kissing porcelain.

Posted

It's not my field, but fair use doesn't cover it it was in a letter or email. That it was an letter, or email makes it even more of an issue.

Not an issue to me. I'm just wondering if I did write the damn thing.

Posted (edited)

It's not my field, but fair use doesn't cover it it was in a letter or email. That it was an letter, or email makes it even more of an issue.

Not an issue to me. I'm just wondering if I did write the damn thing.

I can't answer that. Att the very least, you can get him to buy you @ least a bottle of some good Single Malt for using it without asking!

Edited by Blue Train
Posted (edited)

I tried "science" by testing a few entries in a writing sample analyzer. http://sarahktyler.c...ode/sample.php. After 2 cut & pastes I thought probably not but a third try was closer to the entry that's causing confusion (I used samples where you were reviewing music in 5 sentences or less). Between only using 3 samples and the questionable nature of the function machine who knows. In the end what Jim said in post 2 seems about right, and I lean towards it might not be you.

Edited by Quincy

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