William Blake's Holy Thursday.m4v

"Blake's earliest poetry was evidently circulated, not as printed books or as manuscripts but as songs" G.E. Bentley Jr The Stranger from Paradise

England's greatest visionary artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827) was born ahead of his time and his work was not widely appreciated or understood until our own day. A number of prominent twentieth century writers such as WB Yates and Aldous Huxley, and singer-songwriters like Jim Morrison, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen were inspired by Blake and today his popularity has reached global proportions. There are over 13 million hits on google (compared to around 12 million for Picasso) and almost 2 million alone for Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Being the father of English Romanticism, William Blake is read in schools, yet his poetry is often extracted from its visual setting in student anthologies. The musical dimension of Blake's visionary art is almost entirely overlooked. Yet music, song-writing and singing are an integral part of his overall creative process and practice. According to his friend J.T. Smith, Blake 'was entirely unacquainted with the science of music', yet, 'his ear was so good, his tunes were sometimes most singularly beautiful, and were noted down by musical professors.' Unfortunately, no trace of them has surfaced to date... www.victorvertunni.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• william Blake
• songs of Innocence
• Songs of Experience