A Day With Walt Whitman

This is the third and final chapter I recorded from May Gillington Byron's book, A Day With Great Poets, for LibriVox.

A Day With Walt Whitman     45:20

This performance of Byron's chapter features passages from Whitman's greatest poetry woven with biographical data condensed into an imagined day in his life.

A Day with John Keats

This is a another chapter I recorded for LibriVox from a book by May Gillington Byron titled A Day With Great Poets, which blends selections from Keats' greatest poetry with biographical information condensed into an imaginative "day in the life of" narrative.

A Day with John Keats  46:28

I'll post the chapter I recorded about Walt Whitman tomorrow.

Enjoy your day with Mr. Keats!

A Day With Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Here's a chapter I performed from a wonderful Librivox recording called
A Day With Great Poets by May Gillington Byron:

A Day With Samuel Taylor Coleridge   47:36

It blends selections of his greatest works with biographical information condensed into an imaginative "day in the life of" narrative.

I've also done one on Keats and Whitman, which I'll post another day.

Enjoy a day with Mr. Coleridge!

Calling All Rhapsodes

One of the goals of my tour is to discover and encourage rhapsodes. I do believe that some others are doing this. Benjamin Bagby performs Beowulf. But I want to find the people that are doing it more low-profile. Not poets reading their own works, not slam poets performing their works, but true rhapsodes -- performers of classic poetry. The emphasis is on the performance. Not that the words are subjugated to the performance. No, the great rhapsode, like the great actor, holds the words of the poet as sacred. But the words alone are not going to convey full meanings to an audience. It is the rhapsode's task to discover all the potential power of the words and embody them in performance. Giving a "flat" reading is no more respectful of the text than is a lover who merely assumes that his beloved knows his love.

Maybe rhapsodizing is not so prevalent. Certainly, it is under the radar. When do your ever hear of people performing a show consisting of nothing but classic poetry? Rarely. I'm sure poetry readings happen in libraries, but I'll bet that's mostly original poetry. The tradition of a solo Shakespeare show goes back at least to the early twentieth century, possibly before. John Gielgud's Ages of Man and Ian McKellen's Acting Shakespeare are possibly the most well-known examples.

A Live Rhapsode Tour

I am planning a live rhapsode tour in the spring semester of 2015. It is a part of my sabbatical, for which I had to submit a proposal of activity to be vetted by the Faculty Development Committee at my university. It's quite ambitious, at least for me. I plan to perform 2 to 4 solo rhapsodies each month during January, February, March, April, and May in Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. I plan to perform -- or at least offer -- four separate solo shows to the venues I contact: one centering on Shakespeare, one on Whitman, one on Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and one a medley (or rhapsody) of several classic poets. I plan to offer these to theaters, schools, libraries, museums, and virtually any place that can provide me with a performance space and a potential audience. I have not done a full-length live rhapsodic performance since fall 2010 and it's time to go back in front of a live audience.

One of my purposes is to accelerate the Rhapsodize initiative that has stalled a bit because of my involvement in academic matters for at least the past year, if not more. I'm really as or more interested in starting a movement of rhapsodic performance than in just performing myself. But perhaps I can get some momentum going by going on the road, as limited a tour as this may turn out to be.

I know NOTHING about touring and booking tours, so I have purchased a couple books to get me started, but I admit I have been procrastinating because this entire venture really frightens me. I don't like travel at all, so I need to face and overcome this. Additionally, I see the booking process as somewhat tedious, but I need to see it rather as an adventure. I have been researching and getting in contact with others solo touring theatre performers, particularly Tim Mooney and Elaine Bromka, and hope to learn much from them when I meet them in person.

Here's are links to Tim Mooney's Website,  Tim Mooney's Blog and Tim Mooney's YouTube page.

Here is a link to Elaine Bromka's Tea for Three clip and a link to one of her Demo Reels.

Rhapsodize Audio Update

The rhapsodes of Rhapsodize Audio have been quite busy since my last post. We have completed ELEVEN new rhapsodies, which are now available for free audio download from our catalog page on our Rhapsodize website. Download or stream on Internet Archive now.

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Audio Rhapsodies Catalog

RHAPSODIZE AUDIO presents

A Trilogy of Remembrance 
Last Poems – A.E.Housman 
The Chicago Anthology 
The Growth of Love – First version – 1876
Songs of Innocence by William Blake
Songs of Experience by William Blake
Prose and Verse – the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Early Frost: Twelve Poems of Robert Frost
1920 – Poems by T.S.Eliot
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Growth of Love

New Release from Rhapsodize Audio!

A Shakespeare Gallimaufry

A hodgepodge rhapsody of speeches, sonnets, and scenes from the works of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon performed by the rhapsodes of Rhapsodize Audio.

 May 17, 2013

1. A Rhapsody of Words - performed by Denis Daly, Caprisha Page, Jannie Meisberger, and Bob Gonzalez
2. How Sweet the Moonlight - Lorenzo from The Merchant of Venice - performed by Winston Tharp
3. Hamlet's Speech to the Players - performed by Bob Gonzalez
4. Sonnet 130 - performed by Alan Weyman
5. Apemantus from Timon of Athens – performed by Martin Geeson
6. Sonnet 34 – performed by Carol Box
7. Selected Speeches from Julius Caesar - performed by Bob Gonzalez
8. Sonnet 18 – performed by Rhonda Federman
9. Lear Against the Storm – performed by Jason Mills
10. Nine Sonnets – performed by Denis Daly
11. Selections from Henry IV & V - performed by Bob Gonzalez
12. Kings and Cares – A Selection - performed by Alan Weyman
13. Ramblings of Lady Macbeth – performed by Bev Stevens
14. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Monologues – performed by Denis Daly
15. Cymbeline Act 1 scene 6 – performed by Carol Box and David Richardson
16. Prospero’s Elegy from The Tempest – performed by Alan Weyman
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Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month - April 2013 Complete

There is now a poem for every day of this month, April 2013 available for download either on our Rhapsodize Audio Catalog Page, directly on the Internet Archive, where the actual files are stored, or you may access them directly through the links below:

Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month – April 2013

Performed by rhapsodes of Rhapsodize

1. Introduction to the Project and Poem: When I Was One and Twenty by A.E. Housman, performed by Bob Gonzalez
2. A Song for a Man by Emerson Hough, performed by Denis Daly
3. Dark Sheila by Agatha Christie, performed by Winston Tharp
4, My Comforter by Anonymous, performed by Jannie Meisberger
5. Wordsworth by Lord Byron, performed by Caprisha Page
6. Love is Enough by William Morris, performed by Carol Box
7. De Gustibus by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson
8. A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Henry King, performed by Bob Gonzalez
9. Room! by Angela Morgan performed by Denis Daly
10. L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune by William Faulkner, performed by Winston Tharp
11. Mother Nature by George McDonald, performed by Jannie Meisberger
12. Abdication of Napoleon by William Makepeace Thackeray, performed by Caprisha Page
13. The Dream by John Donne, performed by Carol Box
14. A Grammarian’s Funeral by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson
15. The Invitation by Percy Bysshe Shelley, performed by Bob Gonzalez
16. Out of the Past by Edwin Preston Dargan, performed by Denis Daly
17. A Study in Gray by Ambrose Bierce, performed by Winston Tharp
18. Opportunity by Walter Malone, performed by Jannie Meisberger
19. An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare by John Milton, performed by Caprisha Page
20. Sometime Childish by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, performed by Carol Box
21. Mesmerism by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson
22. Poems to Julia by Robert Herrick, performed by Bob Gonzalez
23. Sonnets 123, 75, & 23 by William Shakespeare, performed by Bob Gonzalez
24. The Jew to Jesus by Florence Kiper Frank, performed by Denis Daly
25. April Is In My Mistress’ Face by Thomas Morley, performed by Winston Tharp
26. The Journey of Life by William Cullen Bryant, performed by Jannie Meisberger
27. On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-Three by John Milton, performed by Caprisha Page
28. Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson
29. Gone by Carl Sandburg, performed by Denis Daly
30. Birches by Robert Frost, performed by Winston Tharp

Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month April 2013 - Eight New Poems -> April 14

Eight new poems have been added to Rhapsodize's Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month, April 2013.
Click here to listen!

De Gustibus by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson
A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Henry King, performed by Bob Gonzalez
Room! by Angela Morgan performed by Denis Daly
L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune by William Faulkner, performed by Winston Tharp
Mother Nature by George McDonald, performed by Jannie Meisberger
Abdication of Napoleon by William Makepeace Thackeray, performed by Caprisha Page
The Dream by John Donne, performed by Carol Box
A Grammarian's Funeral by Robert Browning, performed by Martin Geeson

Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month - April 2013 Rhapsodize Project underway

The rhapsodes of Rhapsodize begin their Poem-a-Day for U.S. Poetry Month project with classic poems by these six poets: A.E. Housman, Emerson Hough, Agatha Christie, Anonymous, Lord Byron, and William Morris performed by Bob Gonzalez, Denis Daly, Winston Tharp, Jannie Meisberger, Caprisha Page, and Carol Box.

Introduction to the Project and Poem: When I Was One and Twenty by A.E. Housman, performed by Bob Gonzalez
A Song for a Man by Emerson Hough, performed byDenis Daly
Dark Sheila by Agatha Christie, performed by Winston Tharp
My Comforter by Anonymous, performed by Jannie Meisberger
Wordsworth by Lord Byron, performed by Caprisha Page
Love is Enough by William Morris, performed by Carol Box