I will get to the \u201cmeat and potatoes\u201d of the project soon (promise!), but in the meantime I wish to continue to wax historic \u2014 in the big picture \u2014 about the world in which this instrument was created. I have already given an overview of the industry-specific context in Canada and USA; so what else can we learn about our society nearly a century ago?<\/p>\n
A quick and handy overview of 1919, courtesy of Wikipedia<\/a>, reveals some events which seem far-removed, and other trends which are tragically familiar (looking at you<\/em>, Middle East). All in all, 1919 was quite a monumental year.<\/p>\n In some ways, it was a very different world:<\/p>\n A world in which a concert pianist<\/a> could be elected Prime Minister of a democratic country.<\/p>\n A world in which it took a transcontinental convoy of the US Army (including a young Major, D.D. Eisenhower) months to traverse the country by road, because there wasn\u2019t to be an Interstate highway system for another 30 years. Average convoy speed (Washington D.C. to Oakland, CA): 5 mph.<\/p>\n A world in which a nationwide constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcohol is approved in the United States (this was almost immediately reflected in the popular music of the day, becoming fodder for song lyrics).<\/p>\n A world in which there transpired a bizarre (albeit tragic) flood of molasses (yes-molasses!) in the streets of Boston.<\/p>\n A world in which several players of the Chicago White Sox conspired to lose the World Series, in what became known as the \u201cBlack Sox scandal\u201d. Thereafter the mythology of a curse was born, and the team did not win the series until 2005.<\/p>\n There are several notable firsts in 1919 such as the first transatlantic flight, and confirmation of Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity. There are also slightly-less notable firsts, such as first appearance of Felix the Cat.<\/p>\n In music, enduring pieces such as de Falla\u2019s El Sombrero de tres picos<\/em>, Elgar\u2019s Cello Concerto<\/em>, Milhaud\u2019s Le boeuf sur le toit<\/em> and Stravinsky\u2019s Firebird Suite #1<\/em> are all premiered.<\/p>\n Future stars of the jazz world including Nat \u201cking\u201d Cole, George Shearing, Art Blakey and Anita O\u2019Day are born, as well as folk legend Pete Seeger and the one and only\u2026Liberace!<\/p>\n And, much like today, it was an intense period of strife, social unrest, and above all appalling violence.<\/p>\n 1919 heralded some terrible natural disasters, such as the Florida Keys Hurricane, and eruption of the Kelud volcano in Java.<\/p>\n 1919 Also marked the end of the Spanish Influenza pandemic, which had killed an estimated 3-5%<\/strong> of the world\u2019s population.<\/p>\n A burgeoning movement of women\u2019s rights and suffrage gained measurable traction, in Europe and in North America.<\/p>\n A continuing battle for worker\u2019s rights, with major strikes and riots in Winnipeg, Seattle, Cleveland, and throughout Europe as well. Predictably these events ended in conflict with police forces, with violent results (even by today\u2019s standards). Ironically, in London and Liverpool, the police themselves went on strike in 1919, in an effort to improve collective bargaining.<\/p>\n The labour movement suffered many setbacks this year as US government forces, fearing the spread of Bolshevism, suspended civil rights and due process, imprisoning many citizens without charge. Non-citizens were deported en masse<\/em> back to Europe and other parts of the world. As part of a reaction to this climate of repression, Galleanist anarchists mailed a series of bombs to authorities and prominent businessmen. Also during this \u201cRed Summer\u201d there were numerous race riots across the country, with terrible violence visited against the African-American population of the United States. It is sad to write this almost a century later, and realize that with the recent federal election a return to that world is more possible than ever.<\/p>\n 1919 was a time of transition for political and social movements.<\/p>\n In the Middle East, the newly-signed Faisal\u2013Weizmann Agreement<\/em> promoted Arab-Jewish cooperation in Palestine, and the creation of a Jewish homeland. In Egypt there is revolution against British rule; the British government sends various envoys (including T.E. Lawrence) to intervene and eventually launch the Milner Mission<\/em>, which ultimately leads to Egyptian independence. Afghanistan gains independence from Britain in 1919.<\/p>\n Wars of independence also begin in Ireland, as well as Estonia and Latvia. Many books have been written\u00a0about events in the impending Soviet sphere at this time.<\/p>\n As a portent of events to come, Mussolini founds the Fascist party in Milan, and Hitler infiltrates and gives his first address to the German Worker\u2019s party; the party which he will eventually lead and transform into the Nationalist Socialist Party.<\/p>\n Of course the major event in the minds of most in the Western world is the Great War. These four years of madness and trauma which had left up to an estimated 18M<\/strong> people dead, well over a third of these being civilian. \u00a0The war finally formally ends with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th (without ratification from USA). The first Remembrance Day is observed this year, on November 11 (obviously!).<\/p>\n The aftermath of the war will be felt for years, and, due to the Treaty\u2019s punishing and humiliating terms for Germany, it essentially sows the seeds of malignancy which inexorably lead to WW2.<\/p>\n This aftermath is expressed in Western culture in many manifestations; one of the most memorable (for me personally) is W.B Yeats\u2019 poem The Second Coming<\/em>, which contains allusions to the war and that period of time in general. Some specific lines of the poem (and the overall feeling of the prose) are every bit as relevant today as when they were penned. It too was written in 1919.<\/p>\n Turning and turning in the widening gyre Surely some revelation is at hand; Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I will get to the \u201cmeat and potatoes\u201d of the project soon (promise!), but in the meantime I wish to continue to wax historic \u2014 in the big picture \u2014 about the world in which this instrument was created. I have already given an overview of the industry-specific context in Canada and USA; so what … Continue reading 1919 Part II: The Widening Gyre<\/span>
\nThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;
\nThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
\nMere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
\nThe blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
\nThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;
\nThe best lack all conviction, while the worst
\nAre full of passionate intensity.<\/p>\n
\nSurely the Second Coming is at hand.
\nThe Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
\nWhen a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi<\/em>
\nTroubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
\nA shape with lion body and the head of a man,
\nA gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
\nIs moving its slow thighs, while all about it
\nReel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
\nThe darkness drops again; but now I know
\nThat twenty centuries of stony sleep
\nWere vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
\nAnd what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
\nSlouches towards Bethlehem to be born?<\/p>\n