COMPLETE Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees - icequeen

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » December 28th, 2022, 1:22 am

Heh. When I was in chorus - high school, college, and later a couple different Sweet Adelines chapters - we had a similar game of Six Degrees of Jimmy Webb...

Anyways, happy to report that, barring any PL notes, I've wrapped up the reading for the other solo project I was involved in, so next time I have time to sit down and record, it'll be Section 1 / Chapter 1! And I have a question:

How do you generally handle the intro for sections that contain two chapters? For instance, Section 10 contains both the relatively short chapters 10, "Hempie's Song" and 11, "A Stronger Antidote Than Reason". My instinct would be to do something like...

Section 10 of Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 10: Hempie's Song

...and then just read chapter 10 through, then read the chapter number and title for chapter 11, then read that chapter, and then end,

End of Section 10.

That's more or less how I did it with my previous solo project, but since it was a collection of fairy tales, it didn't have chapter numbers at all, just story titles.

I suppose another way to do it would be...

Chapters 10 and 11 of Lud-in-the-Mist, by... [...] ...public domain. Chapter 10: Hempie's Song; Chapter 11: A Stronger Antidote Than Reason

...then repeat Chapter 10's number and title as part of the main body of the reading, then read Chapter 11's number and title, then read chapter 11's, then end,

End of Chapters 10 and 11.

The latter method would have the advantage of listing all the section's contents up front in the intro, but would sound a little repetitive too.

(A third option that occurs to me, after searching the forum for possible answers and finding a thread full of people expressing a preference for 15- to 20-minute files (for more flexibility in listening), would be to avoid the whole issue by re-arranging the book into sections each containing a single chapter or a half chapter. But I think if I did that, there would be a few sections that were shorter than 10 minutes... argh.)

Anyway, what do you think? How have you usually handled this situation?

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » December 29th, 2022, 5:23 am

My two cents is that my inclination is towards the second or third options. In my view, short sections are completely fine - my solo project has a lot of very short sections (I think one clocks in at under 40 seconds

). At first I thought of grouping several short ones together, but I decided to keep them separate for the sake of simplicity.

An advantage to the third option is that if every section is a single chapter, the section numbers and the chapter numbers will correspond exactly, so if you happen to accidentally move sections out of order while editing the MW (which has happened to me a few times), it will be easy to eyeball things and see if anything's amiss.

Even with my limited familiarity with Jimmy Webb's oeuvre, I can see that being a game one could get a lot of mileage out of!

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » December 29th, 2022, 7:52 pm

Scarbo wrote: ↑December 29th, 2022, 5:23 am My two cents is that my inclination is towards the second or third options. In my view, short sections are completely fine - my solo project has a lot of very short sections (I think one clocks in at under 40 seconds ). At first I thought of grouping several short ones together, but I decided to keep them separate for the sake of simplicity.

An advantage to the third option is that if every section is a single chapter, the section numbers and the chapter numbers will correspond exactly, so if you happen to accidentally move sections out of order while editing the MW (which has happened to me a few times), it will be easy to eyeball things and see if anything's amiss.

This makes all the sense. And I do like having section and chapter numbers align. I'll go ahead later tonight and rearrange the sections to be one chapter per, and I'll record "Chapter [#]: [NAME OF CHAPTER]" style intros/outros. I don't think any of the chapters will clock in at much more than 35 minutes, so they probably shouldn't need splitting up into parts. There's a few that might be under 10 minutes, but I don't mind if no one else does.

After more poking around the forum, I see that a lot of the guidelines are considered outdated, and that as long as each file is under 72 minutes to fit on a CD, and I suppose there aren't so many very short sections that the intro/outro makes up too great a percentage of what the listener hears, I can probably stress less about this stuff.

Even with my limited familiarity with Jimmy Webb's oeuvre, I can see that being a game one could get a lot of mileage out of!

Webb was responsible for a LOT of the choral music I've sung, although now that I think of it, not so much Sweet Adelines (barbershop) in general; it's more that a SA chapter I was in included a barbershopped-up Jimmy Webb medley in a concert one year. "MacArthur Park" and something else, I forget what.

Then there's the Jim Steinman version of the game, which I did not realize was such a thing until he passed away last year and everyone was talking about all the pop hits he wrote. Which explained why, when at karaoke I sang Air Supply's "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)" the KJ asked me afterward if that had been a song by Meatloaf.

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 1st, 2023, 11:15 pm

To return to the reason Peter Warlock came up in the first place: Turns out the sheet music for "Robin Goodfellow" is public domain. So I can just use his melody, when the time comes. Huzzah! (Though I probably will simplify it a bit, and vary it per character.)

And here is...

Section 1 - Chapter 1: Master Nathaniel Chanticleer
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_01_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
19:40

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » January 2nd, 2023, 5:57 pm

Chapter 1 sounds great, and I see what you mean about the language! It looks like I'm in for a treat with this book. I have just a few notes:

- At 11:01, "They gave out one note," you say "They gave out on one note"
- At 12:00, "It was as if the note were a living substance," you say "It was if the note were a living substance"

Optional: at 15:46, "This also was the cause of his taking a pride," I hear "This also was the cause of his taking pride," but that's such a miniscule difference that you may well decide to leave it as is!

I didn't even realize that IA had sheet music! I'll keep that in mind.

The Jim Steinman variation would also be a fun one! I only just now learned that he produced Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion," but considering how dramatic it is, it totally makes sense.

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 2nd, 2023, 10:38 pm

Scarbo wrote: ↑January 2nd, 2023, 5:57 pm I didn't even realize that IA had sheet music! I'll keep that in mind.

I hadn't realized it either! Not until I stumbled across an article celebrating Public Domain Day 2023, and it had a section about music, and how the question of recordings was a complicated one but sheet music was more straightforward, and it suggested checking out IA's sheet music repository. And I thought, a-ha, I wonder if...? And indeed yes!

The Jim Steinman variation would also be a fun one! I only just now learned that he produced Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion," but considering how dramatic it is, it totally makes sense.

Hah. Steinman was the very definition of "overwrought," wasn't he?

Thank you as ever for your close reading! I should be able to get all three of those corrections up when I sit down to the next chapter, probably over the weekend. (The weird thing about "gave out one note" is, I recorded it right the first time, then immediately stopped to rerecord the sentence because I was convinced I'd seen an "on" in there. Maybe I should boost my browser font size...)

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 9th, 2023, 1:06 am

I have uploaded Section 2 along with the corrections to Section 1 (which I set back to "Ready for PL" status - is that right?):

Section 1:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_01_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
19:42

Section 2:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_02_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
25:36

And I'll probably get to record Section 3, and address any PL notes arising from tonight's upload, in about a week. Thank you!

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » January 9th, 2023, 6:44 pm

Chapter 1 is PL OK!

The notes I have for chapter 2 I'll categorize as optional, because all of them involve such minor differences that you might decide that they're fine as is:

- At 13:04, "an enormous cheese hanging in the sky like the moon," I hear "an enormous cheese hanging in the sky like a moon"
- At 14:27, "whose dung was of a ruddy gold," I hear "whose dung was of ruddy gold"
- At 20:08, "and though they admitted that the fruit produced an agony of mind," you say "and though they admitted that the fruit produced an agony of the mind"

I see what you mean about Duke Aubrey!

For previously recorded sections that have been edited, you can also set the status to "Ready for spot PL," but either way works for me!

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 17th, 2023, 2:14 am

Scarbo wrote: ↑January 9th, 2023, 6:44 pm The notes I have for chapter 2 I'll categorize as optional, because all of them involve such minor differences that you might decide that they're fine as is:

Nah, easy enough to fix those spots, and happy to get the words just right. Section 2 is Ready for spot PL (thank you for pointing out that status setting - I'd never realized it was there!) and Section 3, in which there is dialogue and the start of the Plot, is Ready for PL:

Section 2:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_02_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
25:38

Section 3:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_03_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
38:02

I see what you mean about Duke Aubrey!

Right?! "But he wrote such lovely poetry..."

Section 4 should be coming along this weekend, if not sooner. (It's not that I feel hurried. It's just that this is a lot of fun and I want to get to the next bit NOW.

)

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » January 17th, 2023, 5:58 pm

NicoleJLeBoeuf wrote: ↑January 17th, 2023, 2:14 am Nah, easy enough to fix those spots, and happy to get the words just right. Section 2 is Ready for spot PL (thank you for pointing out that status setting - I'd never realized it was there!) and Section 3, in which there is dialogue and the start of the Plot, is Ready for PL:

Section 2:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_02_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
25:38

Section 3:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_03_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
38:02

Section 2 is PL OK!

Section 3 is nicely done, as always. Looking forward to seeing how things proceed after Ranulph's revelation! I have some notes, all about very minor word changes:

- At 2:53, "Then we cease to note their idiosyncrasies," you say "Then we cease to notice their idiosyncrasies"
- At 14:01, "that blending of the perfume of meadows," I hear "that blending the perfume of meadows"
- At 26:53, "and I trust it never will be again," you say "and I trust it never will again"
- At 30:03, "of being able to expel the agony with reasoning and persuasion!" you say "of being able to expel the agony with reason and persuasion!"
- At 30:38, "and to keep to the aspect of the case," you say "and to keep the aspect of the case"
- At 33:21: "But Master Nathaniel was no longer angry with Ranulph," you say "But Master Nathaniel was no longer angry at Ranulph"
- At 33:50, "had given Ranulph one sherd of a fruit," you say "had given Ranulph one shred of a fruit." It could well be a typo, but I found out that there's a meaning of "sherd" that could apply here. I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job as a word-perfect PLer if I didn't mention it

, but you might decide to leave it as is.
- At 36:36, "for it was a great effort to him to speak," you say "for it was a great effort for him to speak"

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 19th, 2023, 12:47 pm

Those edits are all easy enough to do, and I'll plan on making them when I sit down to record Section 4.

About sherd - I did indeed assume it was a typo for shred. Looking at that link you provided for "sherd", it seems more an alternate for shard/potsherd, as in, pieces of broken porcelain or other solid artifacts, and not, to my mind, so apt for pieces of foodstuffs - but since I can't be sure that Mirrlees isn't using the term advisedly (and goodness knows she makes some very interesting comparisons and metaphors!), I'll happily correct it to use the word as written.

I really appreciate your catching these, tiny as they are! You are making possible the faithful reading that I really do want to record.

Section 4 will give us the first appearance of THAT SONG. You have been warned.

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 23rd, 2023, 12:07 am

Section 3 edits are ready for spot PL. In doing the "sherd" edit, I did a ctrl-f on the PG page for the word just to find my place--and it turns out Mirrlees used the word a lot! In all but one or two instances, it refers to pieces of fruit. So that clears away any doubt in my mind as to whether it's not a typo! It most certainly is not.

And here is Section 4, introducing the mysterious Endymion Leer and also the song that serves as the anthem of Lud-in-the-Mist. I hereby curse Peter Warlock with the rage of a thousand contraltos for that completely unnecessary C Natural on "wi-re" which I am apparently incapable of landing on reliably. WHATEVER. *shakes fist petulantly*

Section 3:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_03_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
38:07

Section 4:
https://librivox.org/uploads/icequeen/ludinthemist_04_mirrlees_128kb.mp3
38:09

(I am astounded at how close in time these two sections are. I mean, they are also almost identical in word count, so I shouldn't be that surprised, but I had no idea reading time could be quite that consistent!)

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » January 23rd, 2023, 5:58 pm

Section 3 is PL OK! I won't be able to finish PLing 4 tonight, but tomorrow for sure.

Scarbo · Post by **Scarbo** » January 24th, 2023, 5:03 pm

And section 4 is PL OK! (Though you could say that it's too bad that there wasn't some edit to make that would have shortened it by exactly two seconds, so that it would be as long as 3.

) Beautiful job on the song!

NicoleJLeBoeuf · Post by **NicoleJLeBoeuf** » January 24th, 2023, 5:35 pm

Scarbo wrote: ↑January 24th, 2023, 5:03 pm And section 4 is PL OK! (Though you could say that it's too bad that there wasn't some edit to make that would have shortened it by exactly two seconds, so that it would be as long as 3. )

Bwahahaha!

Speaking of seconds, would it be useful if I give you the timestamps for where the spot checks wind up? Or are their original timestamps close enough for you to find them without too much searching around?

Beautiful job on the song!

Aw, thank you! Given the amount of times it occurs, including the whole thing as a coda on the last chapter, I might actually manage that darn C Natural by the end of the book...

I may have time to get to Chapter 5 tomorrow night. *shock!* But if so, please don't feel rushed yourself!