How to be an Artist
Jul. 10th, 2011 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtvesselJan 2011
Finishing the Hat - Stephen Sondheim - Virgin Publishing, 2010
* * * * *
Examine my CD collection and you would probably conclude that Stephen Sondheim is my favourite composer. While that isn't quite true, I do consider him to be a genius who has almost single-handedly developed the musical from a lightweight entertainment into a substantial art form with important things to say about human nature and society (in contrast to contemporary opera, which if anything has moved in the opposite direction). Many of his songs also have a strong emotional resonance for me, particularly the ones that he likes most himself: Finishing the Hat and Someone in a Tree, the last such a perfect evocation of the joy of being young, alive and in the moment that it regularly makes me cry. So a book by him was always going to be on my wish list.
That said, it is a bit of a contradiction in terms, as he admits himself. By definition a lyric requires the music to support it, so to write them down out of context may seem like a paradoxical thing to do. It is indeed the case that if you don't have the accompanying music going through your head, they can read like irregular and occasionally pretentious poetry. But this book is far more than the official versions of his lyrics - Sondheim is an astonishingly approachable artist, and is more than eager to pass on the secrets of his craft. So there are introductions explaining the genesis of each show, notes on the technical problems he solved, facsimiles of the sheets on which he worked the lyrics out, various theatrical anecdotes and sometimes withering criticisms both of other lyricists and himself (Ira Gershwin tries too hard, Coward is "the master of blather"). Most of all there is the sense of a craftsman at work. Variant and cut lyrics are included, enabling anyone who is familiar with the musicals to see how they developed. I don’t always agree with his artistic decisions - the new lyrics to the brothel madam's song "Welcome to Kanagawa" from Pacific Overtures, a song about which he expresses some frustration, are noticeably less funny than the ones in my 1976 recording - but in general you can see that they are right.
The technical detail matters because the same process of creation and refinement applies to all artistic endeavours of any worth. It is worth quoting his three rules of lyric writing, for they apply more generally:
Content dictates form
Less is more
God is in the details
All in the service of
Clarity
Sondheim is particularly keen on the first - he dislikes his own lyric "I feel pretty" from West Side Story because the rhymes and wordplay draw the audience's attention to the cleverness of the lyric writer and away from the character of Maria. A fair point, but somewhat quixotic given the fundamental unreality of an art form in which people are a) acting on a stage and b) bursting into song at regular intervals. In any case, people generally express themselves in bland and unoriginal ways, which, if content totally dictates form, would necessitate bland and unoriginal lyrics. If this is Sondheim's aim, he has miserably failed: you would, I think, be able to recognise an unfamiliar lyric of his by its sardonic wit and ingenuity alone. Creators always express themselves in their creations, whether they mean to or not. Though I quite agree that the aim of expressing yourself - look how clever/original/witty/brave I am! - is not a worthy objective for an artist.
There are a couple of problems with the book, the first of which is that it is incomplete. This volume only covers the first half of his career, up to the spectacular flop of Merrily We Roll Along in 1981. However this is his publisher's fault, not his - from references within this one, and from the final word "Intermission", it is clear that another volume is to come. The other problem is the lack of comment on the music that accompanies the lyrics. I was constantly struck by the way in which the irregular rhythm of the words only makes sense when you hear it with the corresponding tune. So which comes first? How does the development of one affect the development of the other? These questions may be answered in part two, but if not, I hope he is writing another volume for the benefit of composers like me who would like to do the same.
Finishing the Hat - Stephen Sondheim - Virgin Publishing, 2010
* * * * *
Examine my CD collection and you would probably conclude that Stephen Sondheim is my favourite composer. While that isn't quite true, I do consider him to be a genius who has almost single-handedly developed the musical from a lightweight entertainment into a substantial art form with important things to say about human nature and society (in contrast to contemporary opera, which if anything has moved in the opposite direction). Many of his songs also have a strong emotional resonance for me, particularly the ones that he likes most himself: Finishing the Hat and Someone in a Tree, the last such a perfect evocation of the joy of being young, alive and in the moment that it regularly makes me cry. So a book by him was always going to be on my wish list.
That said, it is a bit of a contradiction in terms, as he admits himself. By definition a lyric requires the music to support it, so to write them down out of context may seem like a paradoxical thing to do. It is indeed the case that if you don't have the accompanying music going through your head, they can read like irregular and occasionally pretentious poetry. But this book is far more than the official versions of his lyrics - Sondheim is an astonishingly approachable artist, and is more than eager to pass on the secrets of his craft. So there are introductions explaining the genesis of each show, notes on the technical problems he solved, facsimiles of the sheets on which he worked the lyrics out, various theatrical anecdotes and sometimes withering criticisms both of other lyricists and himself (Ira Gershwin tries too hard, Coward is "the master of blather"). Most of all there is the sense of a craftsman at work. Variant and cut lyrics are included, enabling anyone who is familiar with the musicals to see how they developed. I don’t always agree with his artistic decisions - the new lyrics to the brothel madam's song "Welcome to Kanagawa" from Pacific Overtures, a song about which he expresses some frustration, are noticeably less funny than the ones in my 1976 recording - but in general you can see that they are right.
The technical detail matters because the same process of creation and refinement applies to all artistic endeavours of any worth. It is worth quoting his three rules of lyric writing, for they apply more generally:
Less is more
God is in the details
All in the service of
Sondheim is particularly keen on the first - he dislikes his own lyric "I feel pretty" from West Side Story because the rhymes and wordplay draw the audience's attention to the cleverness of the lyric writer and away from the character of Maria. A fair point, but somewhat quixotic given the fundamental unreality of an art form in which people are a) acting on a stage and b) bursting into song at regular intervals. In any case, people generally express themselves in bland and unoriginal ways, which, if content totally dictates form, would necessitate bland and unoriginal lyrics. If this is Sondheim's aim, he has miserably failed: you would, I think, be able to recognise an unfamiliar lyric of his by its sardonic wit and ingenuity alone. Creators always express themselves in their creations, whether they mean to or not. Though I quite agree that the aim of expressing yourself - look how clever/original/witty/brave I am! - is not a worthy objective for an artist.
There are a couple of problems with the book, the first of which is that it is incomplete. This volume only covers the first half of his career, up to the spectacular flop of Merrily We Roll Along in 1981. However this is his publisher's fault, not his - from references within this one, and from the final word "Intermission", it is clear that another volume is to come. The other problem is the lack of comment on the music that accompanies the lyrics. I was constantly struck by the way in which the irregular rhythm of the words only makes sense when you hear it with the corresponding tune. So which comes first? How does the development of one affect the development of the other? These questions may be answered in part two, but if not, I hope he is writing another volume for the benefit of composers like me who would like to do the same.