Sir Donald Francis Tovey was born in 1875; Donald Francis Tovey was a British musicologist and composer. He took classical honors with his B.A. at Oxford in 1898; and became a pianist of the first rank; though he never sought a virtuoso career.This book contains all the articles which Tovey wrote for the Encyclopaedia Britannica; as they now appear there; with the exception of one on lsquo;Modern Musicrsquo; and the biographies. The book was set up from printed slips; and thus follows the text finally approved and corrected by the author. The very long musical examples are printed in full. In book form; a few minor alterations have been necessary; mostly in the excising of references; and the bringing of the lsquo;printerrsquo;s stylersquo; into line with that of Toveyrsquo;s other books. An occasional slip in the musical examples has been corrected.
#2841927 in eBooks 1997-01-01 1997-01-01File Name: B00D408NOI
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful play about envy and desireBy Steven ReynoldsIf youve ever felt intimidated by the beautiful people; and lamented the impossibility of ever achieving such effortless grace yourself; then you might be more comfortable living in Gary Owens drowned world. Here; such jealousy isnt just acceptable - its the law. This is a dystopian future where only the ugly are deemed "citizens"; and the radiantly beautiful are outcasts. Theyre hunted down by death squads in an effort to contain "radiance sickness": an affliction which saps the moral will and can be passed on simply by touching the hair of a beautiful woman; like Tara; or by glancing into the eyes a handsome man; like Julian. Exposure leads to "acute moral weakness": tears; mood swings; paralysis in the face of sunsets and birdsong. Worse; it makes you hate yourself. As the citizens explain; "We cant have these fatally radiant creatures walking round the place; reminding us how clumsy; and mean-spirited; and graceless; and cowardly; and shapeless; and flabby; and foul we all are." It just wont do. Radiance is dangerous; and it must be exterminated. But as in any society which establishes an Us and a Them; there are rebels among the citizens; like Darren; who will risk their lives to protect the outcasts; and doubters among the authorities; like Kelly; who are tempted to possess what theyre tasked to destroy..."The Drowned World" explores the nature of envy and desire; the need to belong; and the ways in which we see ourselves in the eyes of other people. Beauty is figured as both irresistible and terrifying; something to be coveted and loathed in equal measure. Desire for the radiant people consumes us; ruining our chance of happiness with each other. As Kelly laments: "We turn on each other for want of them; we chew each other up; for want of them..." But you cant legislate desire out of existence. You cant kill a want; even if you remake the world. As Victor Hugo noted: "The new world which emerges from the chaos will see the ideas of the drowned world soaring above it; winged and full of life." In Owens world; the citizens arent free - theyre still trapped by envy and desire.Owens play is also interesting for its take on totalitarianism and institutionalized violence. Hatred of other groups - classes; races; genders - almost always has its origin in a hatred of the self. We crush others because they remind us of our weaknesses. Bigotry is self-hatred writ large; genocide a substitute for suicide. Today; stories dealing with genocide and cultural cleansing are sadly familiar. Yet often the situations they present are reasonably alien; dealing with people we dont know and places weve never lived. Its easy to empathize with victims you personally have nothing against. Owens play; however; is about us. It jacks into a resentment that many of us feel and which is deliberately stoked by a culture that worships beauty and actually needs us to feel ugly so well more readily pay for a cure. Advertising insists on that lack. "The Drowned World" puts us; the imperfect ones; in a position of power and enacts a brand of victimization that many of us; in our darker moments; might actually relish. While this makes it original and personally relevant in a way that other stories of totalitarian violence arent; it does share with them one important element: what they all demonstrate is that inhuman depravity is never far from the surface of "civilized" life. To unleash it; all we need is an excuse. And as "The Drowned World" argues; what ultimately divides good from evil; citizens from outcasts; isnt the colour or quality of our skin: its how we choose to behave when that excuse presents itself.