Record Number: 32883
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I hope you are well, and are finding some solace in your duties. You must find it hard to console aliens in England. They probably love England, and now they are aliens indeed. There was a letter in the Northcliffe Times not long ago from a lady who would make Bach an alien, a difficult job … You spoke of the Jewish persecution by the Russians. The English papers are allowed to speak of it now; at least there was a strong condemnation in a book-review in the Daily News … The Times published a special supplement of War-Poems on Monday. Did you see it? I think Hardy’s poem [“Song of the Soldiers”) is most likely to survive. It stirs me much more than it first did. On route marches now to occupy my mind, I am learning Wordsworth’s Sonnetts and the first lines of Paradise Lost, for which I can find no praise. It is too colossal. Too Bach-like.’
Century:1900-1945
Date:Between 29 Aug 1915 and 12 Aug 1915
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Chelmsford
county: Essex
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:28 Aug 1890
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:music student and enlisted private
Religion:Christian (Anglican)
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:[Letter to 'Times']
Genre:Politics, Ephemera
Form of Text:Print: Newspaper
Publication Details1915 London: Times
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:32883
Source:Ivor Gurney
Editor:R. K. R. Thornton
Title:Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters
Place of Publication:Manchester
Date of Publication:1991
Vol:n/a
Page:31
Additional Comments:
Letter to Ethel Voynich [Irish novelist and musician] 12 August 1915, Chelmsford, Essex
Citation:
Ivor Gurney, R. K. R. Thornton (ed.), Ivor Gurney: Collected Letters, (Manchester, 1991), p. 31, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32883, accessed: 17 August 2024
Additional Comments:
An advanced search of the digital Times archive has revealed no relevant letter or article about Bach's status as an alien, though I have identified one about Dvorak's status (The Times Tuesday, Jun 08, 1915; pg. 11). It seems unlikely however that Gurney, a music student, would confuse the two, so perhaps he misremembered the newspaper.