ballet
Movie Monday: The Dying Swan 1917

One hundred, five years ago, today, the 1917 short, silent film The Dying Swan (Russian: Umirayushchiy Lebed) was released in Russia (Moscow). Starring Vera Karalli (Gizella), Aleksandr Kheruvimov (Gizella’s Father), Vitold Polonksy (Viktor Krasovsky), Andrej Gromov (Valeriy Glinskiy) and Ivane Perestiani (Glinskiy’s Friend), it was directed by Yevgeni Bauer and written by Zoya Barantsevich.
A grief-stricken ballerina becomes the obsession of an increasingly unhinged artist.
Gizella, who is a dancer and mute, falls in love with Victor, whom she met at the lake. She believes that love is mutual but, […] sees Victor with another girl after he cancels a date with her. She becomes an object of sympathy for the artist Glinsky, who sees Gizella dancing The Dying Swan and uses her as a model for a picture on the theme of death.
When Viktor meets Gizella one day beside the lake, he takes an interest in her and begins to call on her regularly. When Viktor deceives her and she finds him with another woman, she moves away and begins a career as a ballerina.

A brokenhearted dancer and an artist desperate for inspiration form a strange collaboration in Russian director Yevgeni Bauer’s psychological drama. Morbid in the best possible way.
Additional:
The Dying Swan (Century Film Project/12-10-2017)
Full Movie
This entry was posted in Movies and tagged 1917, aleksandr kheruvimov, amazon, andrej gromov, artist, ballerina, ballet, black and white records, century film project, death, film short, gizella, IMDb, ivane perestiani, january 17, moscow, movies silently, mubi, russia, short film, silent, silent film, the dying swan, umirayushchiy lebed, valeriy glinskiy, vera karalli, viktor krasovsky, vitold polonsky, wikipedia, yevgeni bauer, youtube, zoya brantsevich.
Music Monday: Now Is The Month of Maying 1595

Stepping backwards a bit, I stumbled across something prior to 1600…
Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Living in London at the same time as Shakespeare, Morley was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. [He] was active in church music as a singer, composer and organist at St Paul’s Cathedral [and] was involved in music publishing. [He] lived for a time in the same parish as Shakespeare and, a connection between the two has been long speculated but, never proven. In addition to his madrigals, [he] wrote instrumental music, including keyboard music […].
Now Is The Month of Maying is one of the most famous of the English ballets […]. It is based on the canzonet So Ben Mi Chi Ha Bon Tempo used by Orazio Vecchi […]. It was printed in […] Morley’s First Book of Ballets to Five Voyces [in] 1595. The song delights in bawdy double-entendre. It is, apparently, about spring dancing but, this is a metaphor for making love/sex. For example, a barley-break would have suggested outdoor sexual activity (rather like […] a roll in the hay). The use of such imagery and puns increased during the Renaissance.
It was also heard in 1964 on The Andy Griffith Show episode The Song Festers.

Lyrics:
Now is the month of maying,
When merry lads are playing,
Fa la la la la la la la la,
Fa la la, etc…
Each with his bonny lass
Upon the greeny grass.
Fa la la, etc…
The Spring, clad all in gladness,
Doth laugh at Winter’s sadness,
Fa la la, etc…
And to the bagpipe’s sound
The nymphs tread out their ground.
Fa la la, etc…
Fie then! Why sit we musing,
Youth’s sweet delight refusing?
Fa la la, etc…
Say, dainty nymphs, and speak,
Shall we play barley break?
Fa la la, etc…
Additional Reading & Sources:
Thomas Morley (Britannica)
Thomas Morley (Elizabethan-Era Site)
The Song Festers (IMDB)
Now Is The Month of Maying (Wikipedia)
Thomas Morley (Wikipedia)
Barney’s Voice Lessons
This entry was posted in Music and tagged 1964, all poetry, amazon, bagpipe, ballet, barley break, barney fife, barneys voice lesson, bawdy, bonny lass, britannica, canzonet, canzonetta, church music, collins dictionary, composer, don knotts, double entendre, elizabethan era, england, english ballet, english composer, english madrigal school, first book of ballets to five voyces, gladness, got poem, greeny grass, imagery, IMDb, instrumental music, keyboard music, london, madrigals, making love, merry lads, music publishing, music theory, now is the month of maying, nymphs, orazio vecchi, organist, outdoor, parish, puns, renaissance, renaissance composer, renaissance music, roll in the hay, sadness, secular musci, sex, sexual activity, shakespeare, sheet music direct, singer, so ben mi chi ha bon tempo, spring dancing, st. pauls cathedral, the andy griffith show, the song festers, theorist, thomas morley, wikipedia, winter.