Distant Melodies: Music in Search of Home

by Edward Dusinberre

A combination of memoir and music history, Distant Melodies takes the reader on a journey of exploration into the related ideas of home, displacement and retreat in the lives and music of four composers whose works Edward Dusinberre has rehearsed and performed as first violinist of the Takács Antonín Dvorák, Edward Elgar, Béla Bartók and Benjamin Britten.
Distant Melodies explores the experience of living with a piece of music over time and the ways in which engaging more closely with these composers has changed the author's own perception of home. As he learned more about Dvórâk, Bartók and Britten's American experiences, Elgar's remarkable Piano Quintet and the English landscapes that inspired it provided another way to explore the ways in which a piece of music may affirm or alter one's sense of home.
While Dusinberre's earlier book, Beethoven for a Later The Journey of a String Quartet,delved into the inner workings of a string quartet, Distant Melodies charts the progress of the Takács during a period of change as the world begins to emerge from the distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Genres: Music, Memoir

218 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Steven Benson]

This book was strange and disappointing.

It was a straight man trying to talk about emotion, and only managing it via talking about music.

There were endless clunky switches between talking re the Takacs Quartet, and the the very interesting theme of "distance" from homeland, with no concept of distance from SELF; in the case of (where it was most jarring):Britten: GAY self; the fact it was never even CONCEIVED of that Britten experienced unrest and inability to settle, or fully inhabit a geographical space, MAY(at least) be have been related to him having been a gay man in a double positionally of being a darling of the establishment and a gayman in an inimical socio-political landscape(he died in 1976).

I thought the chapters on Dvorak(geographical homesicknessness and hiraeth for Czechia being Dvorak's true issues) were both the most emotionally accurate and well-rendered, with some integration of Dvorak's( and the Takacs') music processes and his emotional dislocation; Bartok, as a human, seemed unlocatable, in Dusinberre's faltering account. Elgar, I missed out, because I didn't want to be privy to someone trying to explicate/unentangle a man who wrote utter bombastic colonialist drivel AND some of the most heartfelt music ever...it would have been just too upsetting and excruciating.

I think of Koestenbaum:"The Queens Throat"(1993); this lifts the marriage of music-writing and critical theory and memoir (that Dusinberre seemed to be stabbing at) to a MUCH higher level a degree of emotional wisdom-gay men living fractured lives through the media of opera divas- that a straight man(Dusinberre included) could only dream at.

I want to think music is BEYOND sexual orientation and gender identity; this awkward book tells me this is unlikely; and post-colonial/queer/feminist musicology is a VERY valid field, because it opens up the idea that geography is NOT just place: its a (queer) community, a state of mind, an INNER connection with your tribe; which, yes, can be expressed via music.

[Liz]

A fascinating look at classical music from the inside with in depth looks at the music (and lives) of four composers: Antonin Dvorak, Edward Elgar, Bela Bartok, and Benjamin Britten, from within the prism of of the author’s position of first violinist for Takacs Quartet. And also reflecting how changes in membership of that quartet along with dealing with a much more isolated lifestyle occasioned by Covid has influenced both how he plays as well as how it has changed his approach and appreciation of these composers. Am very glad I picked up a copy of the book after attending a recent concert by the Takacs Quartet here in Portland.