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FMS Digest, v. 1, issues 1-5, February - July 1941
v.1:no.4: Page 7
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F M Z DIGEST Page Seven FANTASY MUSIC By James B. Blish Condensed from SPACEWAYS March & April, 1941 Arthur Bliss' score for the motion picture "Things to Come" is a recent example of a source of musical inspiration drawn upon by composers. Scientifictional subjects have a limited range for music--Prokofieff's Age of Steel is perhaps the closest to it outside of the films. Fantasy and weird subjects, however, appear to have exerted considerable influence over musical composition. Greatest among living composers is Richard Strauss, and one of his many works is Death and Transfiguration. This tone poem, depicting the struggles of a dying man, his final passage, and his exaltation after death, contains many of his finest pages. In contrast is the Waltz-Scherzo of Prokofieff. This is an infernal scene depicting a card - game between the court magician and the wicked witch, attended by hordes of little devils. Saint-Saens' famous Dance Macabre is substantially the same type of tone-painting. Notable in the score is the eerie sound of Satan tuning his violin, and the rattling of bones as skeletons dance upon overturned gravestones. Tschaikovsky's morbid imagination was aroused by a reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, and he chose from this epic the story of Francesca d Rimini for a dramatic overture. To look even further back, we find Hector Berlioz writing a Fantastic Symphony. More recent is Stravinsky's treatment of the Russian legend of the Firebird. This music is true fantasy in the best (Lovecraftian) sense of the word. The American composer is yet more of a curiosity than a recognized phenomenon. One of the best, Charles Griffes, is of peculiar interest to fantasy fans because of his tone-poem based upon Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." Debussy's style was well-suited to works of a fantastic character. Most famous is the langourous "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," but equally interesting is the movement "Sirens" from the three "Nocturnes." Most fantastic of Russian tone-poems is Modest Moussorgsky's "A Night Upon bare Mountain." It is said that the composer first wrote the score under the influence of drugs. There have been so many infernal scenes in operas that it would be difficult to do more than classify them all. Some of the more famous are: The Ride to Hell and Walpurgis-Night by Berlioz; Walpurgis -Night from "Faust" by Gounod; Walpurgis - Night by Boito; Dance of the Furies from "Orpheus and Euridice" by Glucke; overture to "Orpheus in Hades" by Offenbach; and the Descent into Nibelheim from "The Rhinegold" by Wagner. Liadov's Apcolypse is a work which was designed too large for itself. It largely falls through in its grandiose intentions. Another work of Liadov's is his tone-poem, The Enchanted Lake. The cycles of legend of various countries have always offered a fertile field for composers. Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung came from old Teutonic and Scandanavian mythology. Sibelius has set a number of these legends to music. ON 'FAN MAGAZINE' BREVES By Rajocz Condensed from VOICE OF THE IMAGI-NATION May, 1941 I notice that you use fmz as the abbreviation for fan magazine. I think I started it all with 'fanmag' which was soon followed by someone else introducing 'fanzine' and someone else introducing 'fmz.' However, 'fmz' is the abbreviation for fan magazine and 'fanzine' and 'fanag' are supposed to be words meaning fan magazine. of the two words meaning fan magazine, 'fanzine' is the better because it is more phonetic (euphonious?) and will not be mistake for a combination of the two words 'fan' and 'nag.' Although, I still believe I arrived at the only combination for 'fan' and 'mag.'
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F M Z DIGEST Page Seven FANTASY MUSIC By James B. Blish Condensed from SPACEWAYS March & April, 1941 Arthur Bliss' score for the motion picture "Things to Come" is a recent example of a source of musical inspiration drawn upon by composers. Scientifictional subjects have a limited range for music--Prokofieff's Age of Steel is perhaps the closest to it outside of the films. Fantasy and weird subjects, however, appear to have exerted considerable influence over musical composition. Greatest among living composers is Richard Strauss, and one of his many works is Death and Transfiguration. This tone poem, depicting the struggles of a dying man, his final passage, and his exaltation after death, contains many of his finest pages. In contrast is the Waltz-Scherzo of Prokofieff. This is an infernal scene depicting a card - game between the court magician and the wicked witch, attended by hordes of little devils. Saint-Saens' famous Dance Macabre is substantially the same type of tone-painting. Notable in the score is the eerie sound of Satan tuning his violin, and the rattling of bones as skeletons dance upon overturned gravestones. Tschaikovsky's morbid imagination was aroused by a reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, and he chose from this epic the story of Francesca d Rimini for a dramatic overture. To look even further back, we find Hector Berlioz writing a Fantastic Symphony. More recent is Stravinsky's treatment of the Russian legend of the Firebird. This music is true fantasy in the best (Lovecraftian) sense of the word. The American composer is yet more of a curiosity than a recognized phenomenon. One of the best, Charles Griffes, is of peculiar interest to fantasy fans because of his tone-poem based upon Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." Debussy's style was well-suited to works of a fantastic character. Most famous is the langourous "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," but equally interesting is the movement "Sirens" from the three "Nocturnes." Most fantastic of Russian tone-poems is Modest Moussorgsky's "A Night Upon bare Mountain." It is said that the composer first wrote the score under the influence of drugs. There have been so many infernal scenes in operas that it would be difficult to do more than classify them all. Some of the more famous are: The Ride to Hell and Walpurgis-Night by Berlioz; Walpurgis -Night from "Faust" by Gounod; Walpurgis - Night by Boito; Dance of the Furies from "Orpheus and Euridice" by Glucke; overture to "Orpheus in Hades" by Offenbach; and the Descent into Nibelheim from "The Rhinegold" by Wagner. Liadov's Apcolypse is a work which was designed too large for itself. It largely falls through in its grandiose intentions. Another work of Liadov's is his tone-poem, The Enchanted Lake. The cycles of legend of various countries have always offered a fertile field for composers. Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung came from old Teutonic and Scandanavian mythology. Sibelius has set a number of these legends to music. ON 'FAN MAGAZINE' BREVES By Rajocz Condensed from VOICE OF THE IMAGI-NATION May, 1941 I notice that you use fmz as the abbreviation for fan magazine. I think I started it all with 'fanmag' which was soon followed by someone else introducing 'fanzine' and someone else introducing 'fmz.' However, 'fmz' is the abbreviation for fan magazine and 'fanzine' and 'fanag' are supposed to be words meaning fan magazine. of the two words meaning fan magazine, 'fanzine' is the better because it is more phonetic (euphonious?) and will not be mistake for a combination of the two words 'fan' and 'nag.' Although, I still believe I arrived at the only combination for 'fan' and 'mag.'
Hevelin Fanzines
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