We'll continue both our celebration of National Poetry Month, and also mark the recent anniverary of the death of Lord Byron on April 19, 1824, with several of the key classical music pieces inspired by the celebrated Romantic poet—considered the archetypal Romantic poet—Lord Byron. These will include Harold in Italy by Berlioz and based loosely on Byron's popular Child Harold's Pilgrimage, and two works (one by Schumann and another by Tchaikovsky) both inspired by Byron's epic poem, Manfred. The cult of personaility surrounding this remarkable poet and his storied life would give also rise to notion of the moody and rebellious "Byronic Hero," and we'll also hear music associated with one its great modern day incarnations, James Dean, who, somehat prophetically, was named James Byron Dean after the poet, of whom his mother was a great admirer. We'll celebrate the continuining tradition of the Byronic Hero with music from Dean's debut film, East of Eden, whose character of Cal Trask as portrayed by Dean remains one of the purest expressions of the Byronic archetype in modern culture.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
