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sai-natiOnal.ORg WintER 2014 PAN PIPES 19 putting shaKespeare to musiC 1 Richard Simpson, Philosophy of Shakespeare's Sonnets (London: N. Truber & Company, 1868), 47. (See Appendix at end of paper for further comments.) 2 Simpson, 43-45. 3 Sonnets of Shakespeare: Selected from a complete setting and miscellaneous songs by the late Richard Simpson (London: Stanley Lucas, Weber and Company, 1878) 4 Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, Shakespeare's Sonnets (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 173. 5 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, Volume 50, Sharp-Smiles (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 707-708. 6 Athenaeum (London: J. Lection, 1876 Yearbook, April 22, 1876), 568. 7 The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900, Volume 5, edited by Jean Harris Slingerland (Routledge: University of Toronto Press, 1989), 713- 715. 8 A list of all the songs and passages in Shakespere which have been set to music, edited by F. J. Furnivall and W. G. Stone (London: N. Trubner, 1884), 78-93. 9 Sonnets of Shakespeare, Notice 10 The Correspondence of Lord Acton and Richard Simpson, edited by Joseph L. Altholz and Damian McElrath (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), 200. 11 Altholz, 229. enDnOtes dedicatory volumes to his wife in 1867, and some of these revisions then appeared in the published volume in 1878. By comparing these earlier versions of the songs with later revisions, we will be able to get a better glimpse as to his composing mastery. As with any composer, some texts inspire more musical creativity than others resulting in beautiful settings right away, maybe even in the first dra. Other texts are less evocative, and the composer might have to struggle just to make it through a setting of the text. Usually, only aer working with a text for a long period of time will a successful musical setting emerge. Some settings are clearly inspired, and some are clearly the result of a struggle. In setting 154 sonnet texts, it appears that Simpson was confronted with these same challenges. Since there are no performances available of either the published or manuscript settings of Simpson's songs, in preparing this study I transcribed 20 of Simpson's songs on Finale [music notation soware] and put these songs on a CD as a sample collection. (A transcription of Sonnet 130 can be downloaded by going to my composer website: hollisthoms.com, going to the "Home" page, and to the bottom of the third column, "Current Research" to the download link.) Great compositions are great because the listener hears every single note, and every single note means something. ink of Schubert's songs, or Bach's Inventions, or Beethoven's symphonies. We delight in being able to know every single note no matter how long the piece is. If there is a criticism of Simpson's writing in general, it is that there are too many notes, notes that are not necessarily remembered by the listener, too many notes create clutter for the listener. As he revised and thought more about his settings, through subsequent revisions and over time, he was able to create some miniature masterpieces. Some of his settings and some parts of his settings have that every note significance. Sonnets 6, 11, 20, 47, 73, 110b, and 130 are the most beautifully written of his compositions and deserve to be placed among the songs of Foster, Mendelssohn, and Schubert. ey need to be heard. Simpson's three volumes of compositions setting all of Shakespeare's sonnets is an incredible artistic accomplishment. No other composer has done this, as far as I know. Simpson described his composing as the "sweetness of doing nothing," and being in the "spirit of idleness." When in this state, he delved deeply into his creative powers of musical expression and loved to be in that creative flow state, returning daily for many years to re-experience that "sweetness." As a fortunate observer examining the manuscripts of his 154 musical settings, and consequently participating in his moments of "sweetness," I, too, have vicariously experienced that "sweetness," seeing how much he loved the Sonnets of Shakespeare and how he took those texts deeply into his heart and mind. Richard Simpson, a significant amateur composer, once lost, has now been found. Hollis oms, composer and researcher, has had a number of articles published in PAN PIPES. He has written over 100 musical works for a variety of ensembles and has over 30 published articles in educational journals. In addition to a graduate degree in educational administration and years as a teacher and school administrator, he has a Master's degree in composition from Northwestern University and finished the course work for the PhD in composition from the Eastman School of Music. He has been the recipient of a number of fellowships, including the Joseph Kingenstein Fellowship to Columbia University, the Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellowship, and was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher to Scotland and was selected to participate in the Summer Institute for Principals at Harvard University. the first six months of his life. It was destroyed in 1943. is site is close to Brahms Platz, the location of Laeiszhalle, an extraordinary concert venue where I heard Jun Märkel conduct the Philharmoniker Hamburg. Serendipitously, aer the performance, when I was trying to find the stela, Mr. Märkel himself walked toward me from the opposite direction and kindly pointed out the landmark. e Brahms Society, which meets bi- monthly, has been responsible for maintaining this wonderful museum since it opened in 1971. Easily accessible by public transportation, the former merchant house built in 1851 is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM. Adult admission is 4 euros; students and seniors pay half price. Available for purchase is an inexpensive 76-page exhibition guidebook with fascinating information about 138 of the items on display. Quite a few illustrations are in color. For those who don't read German, there are English labels in all the cases. Guided tours are also available. Jayne I. Hanlin is an initiate of Alpha Omicron and current member of the St. Louis Alumnae chapter. Mrs. Hanlin, the sister of famed pianist Malcolm Frager, is the co-author of Learning Latin rough Mythology (Cambridge University Press, 1991). BACH continued from page 14

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