Podcast: Play in new window | Download
|
||||
Over at The Ruminate, Larry Swain created the PEAA Awards (Praemium Ephemeridis Aetheriae Auctoribus awards [Award for Authors of Ethereal Diaries]), and he recently announced that Anglo-Saxon Aloud won for Best Podcast on Medieval Subject. This award is incredibly gratifying, because it comes from the people who know best (the medievalist blogging community), and I really appreciate the award and Larry’s putting together the whole thing. Of course it is a little ironic that I got the award just as I got too much of a cold to effectively finish up the poetry. The entire ASPR is recorded and posted, but there are a few other short poems (well, except Instructions for Christians, which is a beast). As soon as my voice no longer sounds like I have smallish bees up my nose, I’ll finish that up and then try some prose. So thanks to Larry, to those who voted for Anglo-Saxon Aloud, and most importantly, for those who listen to Anglo-Saxon Aloud. Knowing that there are listeners, all over the world it turns out, has been the biggest motivator for my keeping up with the project, and the project itself has taught me an enormous amount about Anglo-Saxon poetry. With the last post, the entire Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records is now available through this site. But Anglo-Saxon Aloud is not quite finished with Anglo-Saxon poetry. Over the next two or three weeks I will be posting spoken versions of Psalms 51-68, which I originally recorded as sung versions. I will not be removing the old sung versions, but will be adding a [sung] tag to them. When those Psalms are posted, the entire ASPR will be available in spoken form (I may return to the sung Psalms one day when I have better internalized the music of Psalmody). There are also a few poems in Anglo-Saxon that are not in the Anglo-Saxon poetic records. I will be recording and posting these files as well. They are: A44 Instructions for Christians Then, after the poetry is done, I may take a break before moving on to posting some Anglo-Saxon prose. I may begin with the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Reading of the Day” or first may record some homilies or perhaps the Sermo Lupi: I haven’t decided yet. Anglo-Saxon Aloud will be on temporary hiatus until November 21. Please enjoy the poems in the archives. Thanks for your patience. Because I don’t think “The Shire” has internet access, I will not be able to post on Thursday or Friday. You can get your fix of Anglo-Saxon Aloud from the archives, or buy a copy of Anglo-Saxon: Greatest Hits here. Anglo-Saxon Aloud Greatest Hits: Now Available The studio called today, and the CDs are finished. I will be able to start shipping them on Tuesday or perhaps sooner. If you would like a copy, you can order them by using the PayPal button at this link: Anglo-Saxon Aloud Greatest Hits. Cost is $30.00 USD ($25.00 for the CD and $5.00 for domestic US shipping) Anglo-Saxon Aloud Greatest Hits is a 2-CD set that includes ten poems in Old English, their Modern English translations, and commentaries on each of them as well as an introductory lecture. The poems included are: Cædmon’s Hymn, The Battle of Brunanburh, The Wanderer, The Ruin, The Wife’s Lament, Wulf and Eadwacer, Deor, The Fortunes of Men, Riddle 47 (Book-Moth) and The Dream of the Rood. I will have copies with me at A Long-Expected Party in Kentucky next weekend. For listeners who don’t use PayPal or who are overseas, email me at mdrout@wheatoncollege.edu and we can make arrangements. You can also send me land mail at Prof. M. Drout, Wheaton College, 26 E. Main Street, Norton, MA 02766, USA. Thanks to all the listeners and readers who have given me so much encouragement. And if people like Anglo-Saxon Aloud Greatest Hits, I can maybe someday put together Anglo-Saxon Aloud: Unplugged. Changes to Anglo-Saxon Aloud I’ve become unhappy with how the recordings of my singing the Psalms have been coming out. The fact is, I don’t have the right kind of voice for singing these, they don’t sound good, and it takes an enormous amount of time to edit them into the form they are in, which still isn’t that good. So I am going to change course. I will post the rest of the Paris Psalter (Psalms 68 through 150) as spoken rather than sung recordings. Then I will go back and re-post Psalms 50-67 as spoken recordings. That will give us the entire ASPR recorded and available on the web (I will put together a “Complete ASPR on CD,” but it will be expensive, unfortunately). I’ll then probably add a few poems that aren’t in the ASPR, such as “The Grave” and “Instructions for Christians.” Then, I will simultaneously work to record the Psalter with one of my students who <em>is</em> a good singer for this type of music, and add some prose (starting with the Sermo Lupi, and maybe doing a “Daily Reading from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” project). At the same time, I have begun work on a CD, to sell, of poems in Old English, my own translations in Modern English, and a brief talk on each poem. I hope to have this done by the <a href=”http://www.alongexpectedparty.org/”>Long-Expected Party</a> event in Kentucky in September (though that may be too ambitious). Right now this is a “greatest hits of Anglo-Saxon poetry plus other poems that Drout likes” project: Dream of the Rood, Wanderer, Seafarer, Wife’s Lament, Husband’s Message, Fortunes of Men, Gifts of Men, Maxims, some riddles, Maldon, Brunanburh, Cædmon’s Hymn … I’ll see how it works out; I’d like this one to be just one disk. The temporary hiatus of Anglo-Saxon Aloud, caused by various events, should end on Wednesday, June 11. Thank you for your patience. See many of younz at Kalamazoo… Friday, 11:00 in Valley III near registration. I am working on the sung versions of the Psalms of the Paris Psalter and hope to start posting them on Thursday. That will wrap up the ASPR in approximately five weeks. Anglo-Saxon Aloud will be on hiatus for a couple of days until I get over a little case of laryngitis. Due to a technical glitch and an international conference, I will be unable to post to Anglo-Saxon Aloud this week. Posting (of Guthlac A, to start) will return Monday, August 6th. Gone fishin’. But if you want to buy Beowulf Aloud before the cost goes up, please feel free. My readings of the Vercelli Book poems are now complete, so you can download the entire book from this site or from iTunes. Poems include Andreas, The Dream of the Rood, The Fates of the Apostles, Homiletic Fragment I, and Elene. I’ll be starting the Exeter Book later today, but posting in July may be somewhat less regular than it has been since the beginning of this project (I have to record a new lecture course for Recorded Books, and we will be going on vacation for the first time in a long time), but I hope to finish the Christ poems before the International Society of Angl0-Saxonist’s conference at the beginning of August. I’m just getting over a cold and hoarse voice, and I’m off to give a lecture, so I am going to postpone recording and posting The Dream of the Rood, probably until Tuesday, June 5. This is one of the most beloved poems in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records, and I want to be able to give it the kind of a reading that it deserves. |