Ruth Padel | King's College London (original) (raw)

Papers by Ruth Padel

Eighteenth Century Music

The first string quartet I was invited to write poems for was Haydn's Op. 51, The Seven Last Word... more The first string quartet I was invited to write poems for was Haydn's Op. 51, The Seven Last Words. Paul Barritt, the Hallé Orchestra's Permanent Guest Leader who also organizes Tring Chamber Music in Hertfordshire, had long ago played alongside one of my brothers in the National Youth Orchestra. He phoned out of the blue and commissioned me to write seven poems, to perform with his quartet in a chapel at an Easter concert. He said the problem with performing this piece was that Haydn wrote the movements to be played between sermons and all were slow: they need something in between. I was fascinated. I grew up playing viola in family string quartets, I played frequently in concerts until my mid-twenties but also sang a lot, including religious music in choirs. Even so, the Crucifixion was. .. daunting. I later wrote about tackling the task for The Guardian (www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/18/christ-last-words-ruth-padelpoetry-haydn). I started by researching Haydn's own commission, from around 1785, for orchestral interludes to be played in the Chapel of the Santa Cueva in Cádiz in Holy Week, between sermons meditating on each of the Sayings. Haydn wrote seven movements and added an Introduction, and also an extra fast movement at the end, 'Il Terremoto', for the earthquake which rent the veil of the temple after Christ died. After talking with friends, I guessed he might also have thought of the famous earthquake of 1755, which, when he was twenty-three, devastated Lisbon and many other cities in Spain and Portugal, including Cádiz. It was so large it caused tsunamis from North Africa to Cornwall, and even in Ireland it partly destroyed the Spanish Arch section of Galway City and flooded the marketplace in Kinsale. By striking on a holy day, All Saints Day (1 November), and destroying nearly all the churches in Lisbon, it caused throughout Europe an equally violent emotional and spiritual aftershocka geological challenge to faith. Voltaire mentioned it in Candide (1759), and his 'Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne' (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster, 1756) attacks the notion that God really does organize everything for the best. Haydn was a devout Catholic, and, of course, took the commission very seriously. As he wrote later: It was customary at the cathedral [sic; Oratorio de la Santa Cueva] of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and prostrated himself before the altar. The pause was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced

proposed a change in § 13 to ensure that any limit of sovereign immunity by the legislature would... more proposed a change in § 13 to ensure that any limit of sovereign immunity by the legislature would apply to all governmental entities. See Transcript of Fla. C.R.C. proceedings 117 (Dec. 9, 1977) (remarks of Commissioner Overton). Proposal 98 was amended significantly to provide: "The state and all of its political subdivisions shall be liable for all injuries and compensatory damages resulting from their wrongful acts. Provision shall be made by general law for such suits, providing full and complete recovery for all compensatory damages and losses."

In and Out of the Mind, 1992

Ruth Padel is an award-winning poet who has also become renowned as an energetic, generous and th... more Ruth Padel is an award-winning poet who has also become renowned as an energetic, generous and thought-provoking guide to reading poetry. Her "52 Ways of Looking at a Poem", with its lively overview of contemporary writing and eye-opening readings of individual poems, is indispensable for anyone who writes poetry, teaches it, or simply wants to enjoy it. In her new book, she uses sixty poems by some of our finest poets to look at the idea of the journey, through literature and through life. As Padel makes clear in her fascinating introduction, today's debates about how accessible a poem should be are poetry's older tradition. To rhyme or not to rhyme? The Elizabethans fought over that one, while the Greeks couldn't agree about whether poetry should be dumbed down or remain the preserve of the elite. Combining her training as a Classicist with her insights as a poet, Padel highlights the ways in which the best poets now find a balance between rhymed formal verse...

The Classical World, 1997

Times Literary Supplement Tls, 1998

This is a witty, sparklingly argued study about the links between rock, maleness, and the Greek m... more This is a witty, sparklingly argued study about the links between rock, maleness, and the Greek myths. In a boldly original thesis, Ruth Padel examines a hundred interweaving strands of image and influence. She takes us from the pop single to the operatic aria; from opera to Greek drama; and from there to the Greek myths which became the West's blueprint of sexual adventure. She relates the spotlit, adulated rock god to his classical ancestors - Dionysus, Narcissus, Hercules. She also tracks the story of rock through 20th century history, investigating the links betwen male dreams of violence, misogyny, and - above all - of blackness.

Eighteenth Century Music

The first string quartet I was invited to write poems for was Haydn's Op. 51, The Seven Last Word... more The first string quartet I was invited to write poems for was Haydn's Op. 51, The Seven Last Words. Paul Barritt, the Hallé Orchestra's Permanent Guest Leader who also organizes Tring Chamber Music in Hertfordshire, had long ago played alongside one of my brothers in the National Youth Orchestra. He phoned out of the blue and commissioned me to write seven poems, to perform with his quartet in a chapel at an Easter concert. He said the problem with performing this piece was that Haydn wrote the movements to be played between sermons and all were slow: they need something in between. I was fascinated. I grew up playing viola in family string quartets, I played frequently in concerts until my mid-twenties but also sang a lot, including religious music in choirs. Even so, the Crucifixion was. .. daunting. I later wrote about tackling the task for The Guardian (www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/18/christ-last-words-ruth-padelpoetry-haydn). I started by researching Haydn's own commission, from around 1785, for orchestral interludes to be played in the Chapel of the Santa Cueva in Cádiz in Holy Week, between sermons meditating on each of the Sayings. Haydn wrote seven movements and added an Introduction, and also an extra fast movement at the end, 'Il Terremoto', for the earthquake which rent the veil of the temple after Christ died. After talking with friends, I guessed he might also have thought of the famous earthquake of 1755, which, when he was twenty-three, devastated Lisbon and many other cities in Spain and Portugal, including Cádiz. It was so large it caused tsunamis from North Africa to Cornwall, and even in Ireland it partly destroyed the Spanish Arch section of Galway City and flooded the marketplace in Kinsale. By striking on a holy day, All Saints Day (1 November), and destroying nearly all the churches in Lisbon, it caused throughout Europe an equally violent emotional and spiritual aftershocka geological challenge to faith. Voltaire mentioned it in Candide (1759), and his 'Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne' (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster, 1756) attacks the notion that God really does organize everything for the best. Haydn was a devout Catholic, and, of course, took the commission very seriously. As he wrote later: It was customary at the cathedral [sic; Oratorio de la Santa Cueva] of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and prostrated himself before the altar. The pause was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced

proposed a change in § 13 to ensure that any limit of sovereign immunity by the legislature would... more proposed a change in § 13 to ensure that any limit of sovereign immunity by the legislature would apply to all governmental entities. See Transcript of Fla. C.R.C. proceedings 117 (Dec. 9, 1977) (remarks of Commissioner Overton). Proposal 98 was amended significantly to provide: "The state and all of its political subdivisions shall be liable for all injuries and compensatory damages resulting from their wrongful acts. Provision shall be made by general law for such suits, providing full and complete recovery for all compensatory damages and losses."

In and Out of the Mind, 1992

Ruth Padel is an award-winning poet who has also become renowned as an energetic, generous and th... more Ruth Padel is an award-winning poet who has also become renowned as an energetic, generous and thought-provoking guide to reading poetry. Her "52 Ways of Looking at a Poem", with its lively overview of contemporary writing and eye-opening readings of individual poems, is indispensable for anyone who writes poetry, teaches it, or simply wants to enjoy it. In her new book, she uses sixty poems by some of our finest poets to look at the idea of the journey, through literature and through life. As Padel makes clear in her fascinating introduction, today's debates about how accessible a poem should be are poetry's older tradition. To rhyme or not to rhyme? The Elizabethans fought over that one, while the Greeks couldn't agree about whether poetry should be dumbed down or remain the preserve of the elite. Combining her training as a Classicist with her insights as a poet, Padel highlights the ways in which the best poets now find a balance between rhymed formal verse...

The Classical World, 1997

Times Literary Supplement Tls, 1998

This is a witty, sparklingly argued study about the links between rock, maleness, and the Greek m... more This is a witty, sparklingly argued study about the links between rock, maleness, and the Greek myths. In a boldly original thesis, Ruth Padel examines a hundred interweaving strands of image and influence. She takes us from the pop single to the operatic aria; from opera to Greek drama; and from there to the Greek myths which became the West's blueprint of sexual adventure. She relates the spotlit, adulated rock god to his classical ancestors - Dionysus, Narcissus, Hercules. She also tracks the story of rock through 20th century history, investigating the links betwen male dreams of violence, misogyny, and - above all - of blackness.