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Subject:
From:
Ian Crisp <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 1 Oct 2002 20:36:16 +0100
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Tim Mahon:

>It contained a 'dictionary' of musical themes by taking the first
>seven notes of the themes and converting them to an alphabetical notation
>on the basis of the note's relationship to its predecessor -- did it go
>up or down or stay the same?  I can't recall the letters used, but if
>U=3DUp, D=3DDown and S=3DSame, then the opening of Beethoven's Fifth,
>for example, would have been noted as SSSDUSS.

Those with long memories may recall that I wrote on this list about this
book and the Barlow / Morgenstern books several years ago.  We have both
the B&M ones at home here, but not the Up/Down/Same one.  I found a copy
of it in the East Kilbride public library in Scotland, and tracked down
the publisher, who turned out to be the author under a different name,
in the hope of buying a copy.  However I felt the price he was asking
was extortionate, especially for a book not updated for very many years,
and I regretfully decided against.

Of course you're dying to know the name, publisher, ISBN, etc.  - and I
fear that I have forgotten them. I probably have a note of them somewhere,
but I've moved house twice since then . . .

If Dave's archives go back far enough, searching under the name Ian Crisp
and reading vast reams of the stuff I wrote years ago might find the
answers.  If that prospect (understandably) proves too daunting, then
some time spent searching Google for phrases like "Dictionary of Themes",
"Dictionary of Song Themes" etc.  might work, as might searching for
second-hand booksellers with an interest in musical books, then browsing
their catalogues or contacting the owners.

Ian C
[log in to unmask]
Good Easter

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