I wouldn't mind  a copy of that limited edition text. Where did you get it? I have one of the cds of Pound's music and it sounds like anything but melopoeia to me, almost laughably unintelligble, so perhaps you can share some of your own ideas here on the Pound listerv, knowing, of course, that if they get interesting, you will awaken the denizens. But so what! Robert Kibler
 
"The man of excellence understands what is moral. 
The petty man understands what is profitable." 
Confucius, Analects 
  
Robert E. Kibler Associate Professor of English and Humanities 
Director, Northern Plains Writing Project 
Minot State University 229 Hartnett Hall West 
500 University Avenue West 
Minot, North Dakota 58707 701 858 3876 
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________________________________

From: - Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine on behalf of Dirk Johnson
Sent: Sun 4/20/2008 2:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Le Testament



List members,

Since its release, I've been using every spare moment (which admittedly
isn't saying very much) to study Ezra Pound, /Le Testament, "Paroles de
Villon"/, 1926 'Salle Pleyel' concert excerpts & 1933 Final Version,
complete opera, Margaret Fisher, Robert Hughes Editors. Not that I've
made much progress, being dense of mind and short of time, but the work
is illuminating and rewarding.

This is one of the most important pieces of Pound scholarship (and
original texts by Pound) to become available in many years. It deserves
all the attention it can be given. I'm wondering whether there's anyone
else on this list who has looked into Pound's music and in particular
the work of Fisher and Hughes (especially /Villon/, /Cavalcanti/ and
/Collis O Heliconii/) sufficiently to carry on a discussion about this
with me (this is not some veiled claim that I'm an "expert" -- I most
certainly am not). Pound's music is a large subject, and I would
appreciate some interaction around it by the brilliant members of this
list. In particular, I'm interested how his settings of poems by Villon,
Cavalcanti, Catullus, and Sappho reflect and illuminate Pound's own
ideas about and practices of melopoeia in the his critical writings, the
/Cantos/, and elsewhere. Fisher and Hughes have done a lot of work in
this area, and I have a lot of respect for their accomplishment and
their views. But it would be enlightening to know what others,
especially those belonging to this list, think of the uncovering of Ezra
Pound's music and it's relationship to Pound's verse.

If no one expresses interest in the subject, I suppose I'll just begin
to throw out my thoughts and see what kinds of attacks it provokes from
the usually silent, though dangerous, denizens of the deep.

I feel fortunate to have acquired a copy of /Le Testament/, not only
because of the quality of the work itself (both Pound's and the
Editors'), but because it was released in a limited printing which
appears to be nearly sold out. I've kicked myself in the past (pretty
hard at times) for not buying Poundiana when it was readily available
and reasonably priced. To me, this is like getting a first edition of/
The Pisan Cantos/ or some other important printing -- who would have
thought it possible to get a newly printed first edition of a major work
by Ezra Pound in 2008?

Dirk Johnson
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