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A Book of Burlesques

H. L. Mencken

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3.67
63 ratings

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Book Excerpt: 
. . . theme is first given to three solo violins, and they are muted in a novel and effective manner by stopping their F holes. The directions in the score say mit Glaserkitt (that is, with glazier’s putty), but the Konzertmeister at the Gewandhaus, Herr F. Dur, substituted ordinary pumpernickel with excellent results. It is, in fact, now commonly used in the German orchestras in place of putty, for it does less injury to the varnish of the violins, and, besides, it is edible after use. It produces a thick, oily, mysterious, far-away effect.

At the start, as I have just said, the double theme of Zarathustra appears in D major and A minor, but there is quick modulation to B flat major and C sharp minor, and then to C major and F sharp minor. Meanwhile the tempo gradually accelerates, and the polyphonic texture is helped out by reminiscences of the themes of brooding and of lamentation. A sudden hush and the motive of warning is heard [40]high in the wood-w. . . Read More

Community Reviews

3.00
- Dan - Mar 25, 2022

I decided this was a lost cause soon after starting "From the Programme of a Concert," which is dense with musical in-jokes to the point of near-incomprehensibility, although it seems to be the closest Mencken equivalent to Robert Benchley's classic "Opera Synopses." The following piece, "The Weddin

2.00
- Jerry - Jan 18, 2021

When I run across a Mencken column at random it is usually either interesting or funny or both. When those columns finally convince me to read one of his collections, the collection seems to collect either the least of his writing or the most bound by its time, to the point of being incomprehensible

4.00
- Alex - Sep 18, 2020

Mencken is a funny man he writes about life situations in a truth that cuts through all bullshit .
An example
"The Eternal Democrat.
A Socialist, carrying a red flag, marched through the gates of Heaven.
“To Hell with rank!” he shouted. “All men are equal here.”
Just then the late Karl Marx turned a corn

2.00
- Kevin - Jul 15, 2016

This book is nothing more than H. L. Mencken's stream of consciousness on paper. I have no idea who Mencken is, but I would not want to meet him based on this book, which is a constant stream of boring. I was certain that this would be a book I could engage easily with because of the short story str

4.00
- George - May 03, 2011

GILBERT-AND-SULLIVANESQUE.

“Self-respect: The secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.”—page 70

Why is it that when reading Mencken one feels that they’d be more comfortable if they were wearing a flak jacket?

Once again, in his ‘A Book of Burlesques,’ Mencken, the master of irreverence, giv

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