{
  "title": "LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI",
  "category": "[NARRATIVE-POEM; MUSICAL-MELODRAM]",
  "article": "Poem by John Keats set to music by Bernard Herrmann…\nMERMELSTEIN, DAVID. “More To This Composer Than Meets the Eye.” The New York Times\n(February 11, 2001).\nOn Thursday evening at the Ethical Culture Society, the Eos Orchestra, conducted by Jonathan\nSheffer, will perform ''Melodram: La Belle Dame Sans Merci,'' an experimental work for radio…\nBut with the Depression in full swing, he, like many another artist, needed money. Radio, still in\nits experimental infancy, seemed a good fit. The wisdom of the match became apparent when\nHerrmann, at 23, composed music to accompany the broadcast of a Keats poem, ''La Belle Dame\nSans Merci.'' The score initiated Herrmann's career as a commercial composer, even if he himself\ndidn't realize it.\n“Steven C. Smith, the author of ''A Heart at Fire's Center,'' a 1991 biography of Herrmann, says\nthat the ''Belle Dame Sans Merci'' music has not been performed since the mid-1930's. Mr.\nSheffer, while including it in the concert for its historical significance, also argues for its musical\nvalue. ''It's a precursor to the full flowering of Herrmann's style in film,'' Mr. Sheffer said. ''You\nhear the emphasis on atmospheres and extreme chromatic harmonies, unusual seventh chords,\netc. The music is like the underscoring of an imagined dialogue scene.''\n[Alex Goldstein, Herrmann Society]\nIt was followed by Herrmann's Melodram: La Belle Dame Sans Merci, with text by John Keats,\nread by actor Michael Wager. Prior to the performance, a recording of the introduction to the\noriginal (1934) radio broadcast was played. (I presume so - the program notes do not mention, or\nverify, the source). Much was made by the CBS radio announcer of the experimental nature of the\npiece, and the relationship of the microphone, the speaking voice, and the orchestra.\nIf these relationships were of importance, they were considerably diminished by the mode of\npresentation. Mr. Wager's voice was enhanced by the microphone; the orchestra was not. Sound\nbalance must have been crucial to Herrmann's conception, and I don't think it was successful\nhere. I was also expecting more of an interplay between music and the spoken word - Walton's\nmusic under Olivier's Shakespearean soliloquies comes to mind as a high achievement in this art -\nbut Herrmann must have been thinking of an \"overall\" mood, and in this respect he succeeds.\nHerrmann was hired as an assistant to Johnny Green, who conducted, composed, and arranged\nmusic for a CBS radio program titled “Music in the Modern Manner.” His first important\nopportunity came when he composed incidental music for the dramatic reading of a Keats poem,\n“La Belle Dame Sans Merci.” After that, he was asked to write music for both Green’s show and\nfor two other programs. He also conducted rehearsals of CBS musicians, including Benny\nGoodman and Artie Shaw.",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "Bernard Herrmann (composer, conductor), David Ross (reader).",
  "extant_recordings": "“Melodrams” (The Columbia Workshop, 5/14/38).",
  "chronology": "IN THE MODERN MANNER (WABC, NEW YORK—CBS)\n[Friday—9:00-9:30 PM]\nSeptember 21, 1934\n“La Belle Dame sans Merci”\nPERSONNEL: Bernard Herrmann (composer), David Ross (reader).\nTHE COLUMBIA WORKSHOP (WABC, NEW YORK—CBS)\n[\nMay 14, 1938\n“Melodrams”\nPERSONNEL: Bernard Herrmann (composer), David Ross (reader).\nEXTANT RECORDING\n[Links]\n[audio] La Belle Dame sans Merci, from “Melodrams” (The Columbia Workshop, 1938).",
  "sources": "MERMELSTEIN, DAVID. “More To This Composer Than Meets the Eye.” The New York Times\n(February 11, 2001).\nSMITH, STEVEN C. A Heart at Fire’s Center",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}