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 This issue not
only ushers in Bikwil’s Year 3; it also marks the start of a
new essay series. It is intended that these articles will celebrate
exceptional moments (or strings of moments) in musical history that
are worth reflecting on, more for their individual human or wider
social significance than for their technical content.
Some are
poignant, others exciting, some funny, others downright bizarre, but
none is easily forgotten. For example,
Which
British composer wrote his own epitaph?
What
about the crazy goings-on in Paris in 1913?
Is
it true that we owe a particular classic to a feat of memory?
Is
it possible to write a great opera immediately after fracturing a leg
and being nearly asphyxiated?
You name it; we’ll
have it.
While the idea
arose most directly out of things in the Wagner special, there had
been precedents in other issues. Apart from the jazz chit-chat that
appears now and then in Fizzgig’s From the Back Verandah, one
thinks particularly of Bet Briggs’ The Most Sublime Noise and
For a Singer and His Song.
So now,
below, we introduce the first of our Memorable Moments in Music,
towards which Bikwil’s many music lovers are hereby cordially
invited to contribute their favourite stories.
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