EP. 778: PLAY IT AGAIN SAM: REPETITION IN THE ARTS ft. SAMUEL JAY KEYSER

2025-07-31

Get Keyser's Book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552325/play-it-again-sam/ In his famous Norton Lectures (1976), Leonard Bernstein extolled repetition, saying that it gave poetry its musical qualities and that music theorists refused to take it seriously at their peril. In Play It Again, Sam, Keyser takes Bernstein seriously, exploring the way repetition works in the “sister arts” of music, poetry, and painting. He argues, for example, that rhyme in metrical verse is identical to the way songwriters like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll), Lore...

Get Keyser's Book here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552325/play-it-again-sam/

In his famous Norton Lectures (1976), Leonard Bernstein extolled repetition, saying that it gave poetry its musical qualities and that music theorists refused to take it seriously at their peril. In Play It Again, Sam, Keyser takes Bernstein seriously, exploring the way repetition works in the “sister arts” of music, poetry, and painting. He argues, for example, that rhyme in metrical verse is identical to the way songwriters like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll), Lorenz Hart (My Funny Valentine), and Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame) constructed their iconic melodies. Furthermore, the form of these tunes can be found in classical compositions, including those of Mozart.

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