Unheard Melodies: The Mind Music of Romanticism
About us
Our Mission
Firstly: To breathe life into some of the greatest poems in English literature that have been lost to the inner ear of modern culture in the last century. Secondly: To cultivate the art of reciting high verse so more people can experience the exuberance that comes with breathing the words and thus appreciate such works as modern and timeless—just like we still do with Shakespeare’s plays.
With rare exception, these poems have not been sung or heard aloud for over a century, therefore the “modern ear” needs coaxing and some re-conditioning (or un-conditioning) to hear it. What students often hear when engaging high poetry today sounds strange, inaccessible, and MONOTONAL with rarely any inflection. The music of the poem and much of its meaning is thus lost—along with the chance to feel it be enthralled and enriched by the beauty.
Thinking out loud
Through labors of love over the last decade, Professor Stuart Arkovitz has discovered the sound of some of his favorite pieces and can mimic them aloud. And after years of practice, he can now approximate these “songs” with a high degree of authenticity based on combining the objective and subjective elements of the art form.
As English literature goes, the Romantic Poets warrant a fair share of the stage time we give to Shakespeare, whose soliloquies are no different from Romantic reflections: both are speakers thinking out loud, only the Shakespearean actor must speak loudly for the audience to hear, whereas the Romantic reflection poem is softly spoken, and really does sound like a thinking voice, much like a reflecting voiceover is done in film.
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Stuart Arkovitz
CREATOR, ORATOR
As a university English professor for 14 years, he championed some of the rock stars of Romanticism and over time started hearing the mind music underneath the words with increasing acuity. He eventually knew several pieces by heart and mastered them through thousands of hours of practice.
With Unheard Melodies, Stuart aims to resurrect and re-energize some of "the spirit ditties of no tone” to make them more accessible to modern ears, which are less attuned to the music of the inner ear. He does this primarily to honour the poets but also to help other would-be seekers access the magic. -
Chris Ranker
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Born and raised in Kingsport, Tennessee, Chris Ranker spent ten years directing and producing in the Nashville area. After producing the feature film Juicy Mooshu, he moved to China for four years to produce and direct his upcoming feature, Laowai. He and his wife now live in San Francisco, directing and producing Unheard Melodies as his passion project.