|
The Poetry of Thomas Hardy set to the
Music of Galt MacDermot. " I bought a book of his complete poetic works and from time to time would set a poem to something...Over the years I probably did forty or so..These 26 are the best..some very old, some recent.." --Galt MacDermot Listen and Download "The Thomas Hardy Songs" by Galt MacDermot >> Galt MacDermot is a prolific composer whose work spans the gamut of performing arts. He's the winner of two Grammy Awards and one Tony award. He is the composer of the musical "HAIR" which revolutionized Broadway. Writer of such hits as "Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine Shine In". He has wrote music for the past 40 years and is still active today. |
|||
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), born to a stonemason and apprenticed to an
architect, only began to write in his late twenties. His novels
detail his beliefs in determinism and the struggles of his characters
who lack free will. Minor acts ricochet throughout the novels, causing
small events to have long-lasting effects and unintended consequences.
All of his novels feature strongly drawn characters struggling against a
world in which their lives seem predetermined. Hardy spent most of his
life in Dorset, England which appears finely rendered in his novels. The Wessex countryside is described in such a detailed, atmospheric way that
it becomes a character itself, echoing the moods of its residents. His
most famous novels, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" (1886), "Tess of the
d'Urbervilles" (1891), and "Jude the Obscure" (1895) created such a
furor over the bleak world Hardy created that he eventually give up
novel writing to focus on poetry. |