The Self-unseeing
Poet: Thomas Hardy
Date of poem:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Collection:
History of Poem:
Poem
The Self-Unseeing |
||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Here is the ancient floor, | |
| 2 | footworn and hollowed and thin, | |
| 3 | Here was the former door | |
| 4 | Where the dead feet walked in. | |
| 5 | She sat here in her chair, | |
| 6 | Smiling into the fire; | |
| 7 | He who played stood there, | |
| 8 | Bowing it higher and higher. | |
| 9 | Childlike, I danced in a dream; | |
| 10 | Blessings emblazoned that day; | |
| 11 | Everything glowed with a gleam; | |
| 12 | Yet we were looking away! | |
(Hardy, 166,7) |
||
Content/Meaning of the Poem:
Speaker:
Setting:
Purpose:
Idea or theme:
Style:
Form:
Synthesis:
Published comments about the poem:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Musical Analysis
Composition date:
Publication date:
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes - Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation
Tonality:
Transposition:
Duration:
Meter:
Tempo:
Form:
Rhythm:
Melody:
Texture:
Vocal Range:
Tessitura:
Dynamic Range:
Accompaniment:
Published comments about the music:
Pedagogical Considerations for Voice Students and Instructors:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
| Pitch Analysis | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pitch | stanza 1 |
stanza 2 |
stanza 3 |
stanza 4 |
total | |
highest |
A |
|||||
G |
||||||
F |
||||||
E |
||||||
D |
||||||
middle C |
||||||
B |
||||||
A |
||||||
G |
||||||
F |
||||||
lowest |
E |
|||||
| Rhythm Duration Analysis of Vocal Line | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stanza 1 | stanza 2 | stanza 3 | stanza 4 | total | |
16th note |
|||||
8th note |
|||||
dotted 8th |
|||||
quarter note |
|||||
dotted quarter |
|||||
triplet |
|||||
half note |
|||||
dotted half |
|||||
stanza total |
|||||
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Audio Recordings
To a Poet |
|
 |
|
The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
|
|
 |
|
Gerald Finzi |
|
 |
|
The English Song Series - 12 |
|
 |
|
The following are comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song The Self-Unseeing. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:
A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"
This excerpt begins on page 70 and concludes on page 73.
The preceding were comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song The Self-Unseeing. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16th, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:
A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"
The excerpt began on page 70 and concluded pn page 73.
The following is an analysis of **** by Gerhardus Daniël Van der Watt. Dr. Van der Watt extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on October 8th, 2010. His dissertation dated November 1996, is entitled:
The Songs of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) To Poems by Thomas Hardy
This excerpt comes from Volume II and begins on page *** and concludes on page ***. To view the methodology used within Dr. Van der Watt's dissertation please refer to: Methodology - Van der Watt.
1. Poet
Specific background concerning poem:
2. Poem
Setting
1. Timbre
VOICE TYPE/RANGE
2. Duration
METRE
Rhythmic motifs
Rhythmic activity vs. Rhythmic stagnation
Rhythmically perceptive, erroneous and interesting settings
Lengthening of voiced consonants
3. Pitch
Intervals: Distance distribution
Interval |
Upwards |
Downwards |
Unison |
||
Second |
||
Third |
||
Fourth |
||
Fifth |
||
Sixth |
||
Seventh |
Interval |
Bar no. |
Word/s |
Reason/s |
Melodic curve
Climaxes
System no. |
Pitch |
Word |
Phrase lengths
System no. |
From - To |
Suggested reason/s |
Chromaticism
HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT
Non-harmonic tones
Harmonic devices
Counterpoint
FREQUENCY
RANGE
VARIETY
DYNAMIC ACCENTS
No. of parts |
No. of beats |
Percentage |
2 parts |
||
3 parts |
||
4 parts |
||
5 parts |
||
6 parts |
7. Mood and atmosphere
General comment on style
Unpublished Analysis Excerpts
The following is an analysis of The Self-Unseeing by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:
Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation
This excerpt begins on page fifty-five and concludes on page fifty-six.
The Self-Unseeing |
||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Here is the ancient floor, | |
| 2 | footworn and hollowed and thin, | |
| 3 | Here was the former door | |
| 4 | Where the dead feet walked in. | |
| 5 | She sat here in her chair, | |
| 6 | Smiling into the fire; | |
| 7 | He who played stood there, | |
| 8 | Bowing it higher and higher. | |
| 9 | Childlike, I danced in a dream; | |
| 10 | Blessings emblazoned that day; | |
| 11 | Everything glowed with a gleam; | |
| 12 | Yet we were looking away! | |
(Hardy, 166,7) |
||
Again the poet is faced with a memory, this time generated by a return to his childhood home. The happy memories begin to flood with increased intensity until they suddenly stop with the acknowledgement that the happiness was unappreciated and unnoticed at the time. It again reveals Hardy's obsession with memory. Finzi begins with a slow, chromatic introduction moving in slow half notes as the poet slowly approaches the house (example 21).
Present and past, as formed in the poem, show themselves in a loose ABA in the song. As the memories begin to appear in the B section, the accompaniment gains increasing motion, finally breaking into the dreamlike dance. One again, as the memories suddenly die away, Finzi makes use of silence to mark the time of transition to the present, here in a return to the slow movement of the beginning as the realization comes. In a final signal of the passing of time, and E is sounded in the bass four times, appearing as short quarter notes, finally resolving to A with the A minor chord hanging on above, as constant as the evoked memory.
The preceding was an analysis of The Self-Unseeing by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:
Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation
The excerpt began on page fifty-five and concluded on page fifty-six.