Isaac McLellan

by Peter Cates

Poet
Isaac McLellan

Portland native Isaac McLellan (1806-1899), whom I have written about previously, celebrated our Pine Tree beauty, with wondrously enunciated place names in a minor masterpiece, The Shores of Maine; amidst the frigid long nights of January, one can hope that spring-pleasant temperatures arrive quickly and on time March 21:

“Far in the sunset’s mellow glory,
Far in the daybreak’s pearly bloom-
Fring’d by ocean’s foamy surges,
Belted in by woods of gloom,
Stretch thy soft luxuriant borders,
Smile thy shores, in hill and plain,
Flower-enamelled, ocean-girdled,
Green bright shores of Maine,

“Rivers of surpassing beauty
From thy hemlock woodlands flow,-
Androscoggin and Penobscot,
Saco, chill’d by northern snow,
These from many a lowly ravine
Thick by pine-trees shadow’d o’er,
Sparkling from their ice-cold tributes
To the surges of thy shore.

“Bays resplendent as the heaven,
Starr’d and gemm’d by thousand isles,
Gird thee, Casco, with its islets,
Quoddy with its dimpled smiles:
O’er them the fisher’s shallop,
And tall ships their wings expand,
While the smoke-flag of the steamer,
Flaunteth out its cloudy streamer,
Bound to foreign strand.

“Bright from many a rocky headland
Fring’d by sands that shine like gold,
Gleams the light-house white and lonely,
Grim as some barronial hold.
Bright by many an ocean valley
Shaded hut and village shine;
Roof and steeple, weather-beaten,
Stain’d by ocean’s breath of brine.”

After years residing in Massachusetts, Europe, New York City, Virginia and North Carolina, McLellan, a bachelor, lived out his last years at Greenport on Long Island.

Valeriu Anania

by Peter Cates

Romanian Christmas Carols

Electrechord, ST-EXE 01971, vinyl LP, recorded 1982) is a selection of 16 carols performed by soloists and the Choir of the Romanian Patriarchate, led by the Reverend Iulian Carstoiu.

The annotator Valeriu Anania writes: “Romanian Christmas carols are deeply rooted into the soul of a nation who not only created them but also experiences them within its intimate nature, handing them down from generation to generation, mainly through the voices of children. Unlike those of some other peoples, these are not family festive songs but a message extended by the members of a Christian group to their own community.”

Romania and a few other countries in Eastern Europe commemorate church holidays more often than here in the states; the singing, lighting of candles and other reverent practices are the very stuff of life in its long history of oppression by internal and outside totalitarian forces. Translations of titles convey the special yuletide awe – Great Wonder; Holy Mother Stepping Down; In a Land of Flowers; Downhill at Bethlehem; Lord O Little Lord from Heaven; and Well-Wishing Blossom Bough.

The singing is sublime. Highly recommended, despite the language barrier, as a refreshing change from the usual Deck the Halls Stale Holly, etc.

* * * * * *

Christina Rosetti

Wintry Christmas imagery from the superb English poet Christina Rosetti (1830-1894):

“Lord God of all things
Be they near or far,
Be they high or low;
Lord of storm and snow.
Angel and star.”

When not writing poetry, Christina Rosetti reached out to unwed mothers, women in prison and prostitutes in her good works, and friendship. When her oldest brother, the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rosetti (1828-1882) took ill for several years before he died, she and other siblings moved into the same house and were his caregivers.

She was a small woman and would sit quietly at social occasions. However, she did once stand up, stated, “I am Christina Rosetti – a poet!” and then sat down again.

by Peter Cates

A Down-Home Country Christmas

Sea Shell
P 14992, LP, anthology released 1981.

The above anthology featured selections from the Columbia/Epic Special Products catalog of artists. It was one of dozens of such Christmas anthologies released during the decades of LP availability and these records were usually priced at $1 under the auspices of Goodyear’s, B.F. Goodrich, Grant’s or other outlets.

Ray Price

Ray Price (1926-2013) sang Jingle Bells with commendable persuasiveness via his rich effusive baritone, although my favorite version of this song is still Peggy Lee’s with a children’s chorus.

Initially, Price had considered majoring in veterinary science after high school graduation but had second thoughts, because of his small size, working around large steers and horses in his native Texas. Having already shown talent as a singer and guitarist during his teenage years, he began performing on local radio, made some recordings for small labels and, by perseverance, and sheer luck, achieved fame and fortune.

In 1999, Price made headlines when he was arrested for possession of marijuana. When Willie Nelson, being no stranger to pot smoking himself, heard about Price’s arrest, he hailed it as good news for his friend, claiming that the arrest would give Price $5 million worth of free publicity.

Johnny Cash (1932-2003) narrated the seasonal Spirit of Christmas to the tune of Little Town of Bethlehem.

Jim Nabors (1930-2017) poured on his richly syrupy baritone in singing Come All Ye Faithful.

Jimmy Dean (1928-2010) intoned Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie, Meet Me in Saint Louis; who could forget Jimmy’s 1961 megahit, Big Bad John, his appearance in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever and his breakfast sausage.

Lynn Anderson (1947-2015) was the daughter of singer/songwriter Liz Anderson (1930-2011) and began her career as a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show for two years before heading to Nashville. A few years ago, I wrote a column about one of her Columbia albums, which was co-produced by her ex-husband, Glenn Sutton. She, like her mother had a sweet voice and her Soon It Will Be Christmas Day, not to be confused with Silver Bells, is quite lovely.

Marty Robbins (1925-1982) charted in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s with four very captivating classics, White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation, Story of My Life, Seventeen, and Devil Woman. He died very early just after heart surgery. His Hark the Herald Angels Sing is good but not his best.

Now 62, Tanya Tucker did a very good Silver Bells during her teenage years after achieving fame and fortune at 14 years old with What’s Your Mama’s Name? and Delta Dawn. She had romances with singers Merle Haggard, Andy Gibbs and Glen Campbell, and actor Don Johnson.

The three remaining tracks are as follows:

Charlie Rich (1932-1995) – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Jody Miller , now 79, What Child Is This.

And the last selection, an absolute gem, is the Chuck Wagon Gang’s a cappella Joy to the World.

A solid recommendation for Christmas music.

Van Wyck Brooks

by Peter Cates

Van Wyck Brooks

In his fascinating 1936 literary history, The Flowering of New England, Van Wyck Brooks (1886-1963) astutely commented on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in an essay, justifying the importance of a poet’s profession, its nobility and necessity to life itself:

“Poetry did not enervate the mind or unfit the mind for the practical duties of life. He hoped that poets would rise to convince the nation that, properly understood, ‘utility’ embraces whatever contributes to make men happy. What had retarded American poetry? What but the want of exclusive cultivation? American poetry had been a pastime, beguiling the idle moments of merchants and lawyers. American scholarship had existed solely to satisfy the interests of theology.

“Neither had been a self-sufficient cause for self-devotion. Henceforth, let it be understood that he who, in the solitude of his chamber, quickened the inner life of his countrymen, lived not for himself or lived in vain. The hour had struck for poets. Let them be more national and more natural, but only national as they were natural. Eschew the skylark and the nightingale, birds that Audobon had never found. A national literature ought to be built, as the robin builds its nest, out of the twigs and straws of one’s native meadows. “

Between 1620, when the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and 1815, when the creative spirits were gaining firmer ground in New England, the country was fighting for survival in an untamed wilderness. Farming and the formation of a civil society under the eyes of a just, loving and wrathful God were facts of life. Art, music and literature were mostly frowned upon except during the few patches of free time.

But a few worthwhile poets did emerge – the Puritan Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672, who married her husband Simon when she was 16); the physician and pastor Edward Taylor (1642-1729, who moved to the remote settlement of Westfield, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires and wrote some very intricate verses during his spare time that were discovered 200 years after his death in the back rooms of the Yale University Library) and William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878, whose family was originally from Knox before settling in Massachusetts).

However, the Romantic period in England and Europe brought about a passionate, very subjective individuality that would inspire Longfellow, his friend Hawthorne and Emerson, Thoreau and other Transcendentalists.

For what it’s worth, English poets were writing Odes and other tributes to nightingales while Longfellow did celebrate the beauties of nature frequently and not just the twigs. I look out on the back lawn in November and see a lot of twigs and stripped branches but do look forward to the end of winter in late May.

by Peter Cates

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 5
Paul Kletzki conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra; Columbia Masterworks, MM-701, six 12 inch 78s; recorded November 13 and 14, 1946.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky finished composing his 5th Symphony in 1888; along with the 4th and 6th (Pathetique) Symphonies; it expresses the most intense extremes of emotion, ranging from harrowing despair to jubilation. The composer himself was manic and tormented his entire life by self-doubts and depression. These three symphonies mirror them but have memorable melodic material and development which have sustained their popularity in concert halls and recording studios since their composition. I have lost track of the number of recordings I have of them.

Tchaikovsky visited Hamburg, Germany, in 1888 and 1889 and was hosted by a locally-prominent music teacher Teodor Ave-Lallemant (1806-1890) during the first trip before he completed the symphony. The two struck up a fast friendship but had a most interesting conversation regarding the older man’s feelings about Tchaikovsky’s music.

Ave-Lallemant felt that the composer’s pieces heard then, which included the Serenade for Strings and 1st Piano Concerto, were horrendous sounding but blamed its lackings more on Russia’s cultural backwardness than on the composer. He insisted that Tchaikovsky had the makings of a great composer if only he would move to Germany to absorb its inspiring traditions.

Tchaikovsky wrote in his journals that “Evidently Herr Ave-Lallemant harbours a deep prejudice against Russia, and I tried as far as I could to mitigate his hostile feelings towards our country, which, incidentally, this venerable Russophobe did not actually express openly but merely allowed to shine in his words. We parted as great friends.”

He dedicated his 5th Symphony to Ave-Lallemant and conducted its German premiere on his 1889 trip to Hamburg. Sadly, the gentleman was too ill to attend and died the following year. Tchaikovsky’s German publisher wrote a letter to the composer conveying the news and the following comment:

“Good Herr Ave-Lallement has died. The most distinguishing event in his life was in any case that which put his name on your 5th Symphony. He accorded you his full sympathy. ”

Paul Kletzki (1900-1973) conducted an especially beautiful performance that was suffused with poetic lyricism and the 1946 recording can be heard on YouTube. Kletzki grew up in Poland and, while he was fighting for his country during its war with Russia, a bullet grazed his skull while all too many of his comrades were killed. Later he fled the Nazis but his parents and a sister were murdered during the Holocaust.

Every recording I have heard of him is quite good and many of them can also be heard on YouTube.

He died on March 5, 1973, after collapsing during a rehearsal with the Liverpool, England, Philharmonic.