![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My Sondheim Christmas Presents
Jan. 3rd, 2021 10:38 amOne of my Christmas presents—theoretically, two of them, as one had Grandpa's name on the label, but as I know well, Grandpa forgot to Do Christmas this year so Beast and I each repurposed a gift to one another so that it could come 'from' him, and he hasn't paid us for them*—was the pair of books by Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat and Look, I Made a Hat. They are much bigger tomes than I was expecting! Having forgotten what was on my wishlist, I assumed they were cookery books while they were wrapped.
Anyway, they are very interesting. As I got into the first one, I realised that I was going to know Sondheim a lot better, and probably like him less, and I think this is true. He is very 'my way is The Way' about lyric writing, and disses Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin quite sternly. He may not be wrong, exactly, but he also *is* wrong. Different styles for different eras. Also, Mr Sondheim, 'I feel pretty' is exactly the sentiment a young girl would want to be feeling as she gets ready for her first-ever dance. The music for 'I feel pretty' is certainly more Viennese waltz than Puerto Rican teenager. I don't know whether the music came first or the lyric, and the first musical phrase practically *says* 'I feel pretty'; from the rhyme scheme, I suspect the music was written first. In which case, the lyricist can't bear all the blame for it not being an authentic expression of character! Oh, and 'the world was just an address' is a perfect expression for a teenage boy suddenly in love. So there. Stop deprecating choices in your old age.
I have mostly been skipping reading the actual lyrics in favour of the notes made during the creation of those lyrics/about the production, etc, and the long expostulations of Why Other Lyricists Are Not Trying Hard Enough, which are... well. Arrogant, I think. We generally excuse geniuses for arrogance. I can see his point, with the lyricists I'm familiar with (and fond of, in the cases of Hart and Gershwin), but I don't think his way is The Only Way to be a good lyricist.
Anyway. The books are very interesting, and also beautiful, big, cookery-book sized tomes with lots of photos and smart layout involving different typefaces, and it may be weird of me but I enjoy a smart layout with different typefaces for different purposes. Not cheap, though!
* Grandpa also forgot to buy the children something, so I did the same with some of the books we'd got them, and extracted cash from him for those! And then he was aggrieved because he couldn't find that the children had given him anything. (They had, in fact, but there was some mix-up with the Amazon wish list and someone else had given him the same thing, so they kept theirs back and changed it after Christmas.)
Anyway, they are very interesting. As I got into the first one, I realised that I was going to know Sondheim a lot better, and probably like him less, and I think this is true. He is very 'my way is The Way' about lyric writing, and disses Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin quite sternly. He may not be wrong, exactly, but he also *is* wrong. Different styles for different eras. Also, Mr Sondheim, 'I feel pretty' is exactly the sentiment a young girl would want to be feeling as she gets ready for her first-ever dance. The music for 'I feel pretty' is certainly more Viennese waltz than Puerto Rican teenager. I don't know whether the music came first or the lyric, and the first musical phrase practically *says* 'I feel pretty'; from the rhyme scheme, I suspect the music was written first. In which case, the lyricist can't bear all the blame for it not being an authentic expression of character! Oh, and 'the world was just an address' is a perfect expression for a teenage boy suddenly in love. So there. Stop deprecating choices in your old age.
I have mostly been skipping reading the actual lyrics in favour of the notes made during the creation of those lyrics/about the production, etc, and the long expostulations of Why Other Lyricists Are Not Trying Hard Enough, which are... well. Arrogant, I think. We generally excuse geniuses for arrogance. I can see his point, with the lyricists I'm familiar with (and fond of, in the cases of Hart and Gershwin), but I don't think his way is The Only Way to be a good lyricist.
Anyway. The books are very interesting, and also beautiful, big, cookery-book sized tomes with lots of photos and smart layout involving different typefaces, and it may be weird of me but I enjoy a smart layout with different typefaces for different purposes. Not cheap, though!
* Grandpa also forgot to buy the children something, so I did the same with some of the books we'd got them, and extracted cash from him for those! And then he was aggrieved because he couldn't find that the children had given him anything. (They had, in fact, but there was some mix-up with the Amazon wish list and someone else had given him the same thing, so they kept theirs back and changed it after Christmas.)
