Having just read Margaret Fisher's book "Ezra Pound's Radio Operas" in
galley form, I recommend it strongly to this group.

Cheers,

Tim Redman

-----Original Message-----
From: - Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Fisher Hughes
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 7:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pound, atonality, 20th C. music


Jesse / Nikolay - As far as I know Pound never expressed any knowledge
of or interest in Webern, Harry (not Henry) Partch or John Cage.
Regarding atonality, we have no evidence that he heard any of
Schonberg's music though he had opinions on the character and theory of
it, to some degree shaped by Antheil's opinions and influence. Agnes
Bedford, Pound's musical amanuensis, saw Berg's *Wozzeck* at Queens
Hall, London, in the spring of 1928 and drew his attention to it, but
apparently the only Berg he heard was the *Lyric Suite* at the Venice
Biennale in 1936. He attended a social event in the Venetian home of the
Princesse de Polignac in the fall of 1934 at which Berg was present but
there is no record of an interchange between them.

Allowing for strong interest in specific works by Bartok and Hindemith,
Pound's lasting affinities from the mid-1920s onward were definitely
with Stravinsky - both men expressing a desire to meet during the late
'50s. Following Pound's release from St. Elizabeths, James Laughlin
tried to bring about a meeting, with a possible collaboration in mind,
but time and circumstances intervened. Margaret Fisher's new book *Ezra
Pound's Radio Operas* (spring 2002, MIT) discusses Stravinsky and one of
his key melodies which Pound employed for structural focus in his second
opera, *Cavalcanti.* For more information on Pound's attitude toward
Berg, Schonberg and Stravinsky check the index in Murray Schafer's *Ezra
Pound and Music.*

Bob Hughes