By Jasmine Durst
Several eons ago, when Guy Graybill was about to enter Gettysburg College, he pondered the choices, torn between the fields of history and journalism, but he had chosen the first.
Among the books that Graybill published, his favorite remains “BRAVO!” – or the British title: “Italy’s Primacy in Musical History”. He wrote the book after speaking with a woman who was active in the Sons and Daughters of Italy in America—a national organization that celebrates Italian heritage—although it was only listed as “Sons” at that time.
Guy Graybill stated, “As we chatted, I realized that there seemed to be no book telling the story of Italy’s unparalleled role in music. The more I thought of it, the more disturbing it was that Italy’s seminal role was not discussed in a book. I certainly don’t understand why all music students don’t get just a bit of that history.”
The writing process for “BRAVO!” was pleasant, since he, as a teen, listened to a late-night classical music broadcast out of WCFL in Chicago. The names of composers and symphony orchestra directors became familiar. He also happened to have found a 1924 Victor record catalog listing all sorts of musical recordings, plus having small articles about several opera plots.
For the writing of “BRAVO!” he also relied on about 30 long-playing record albums of classical music, including many of the Italian giants. The writing took considerable research, much of which was done in the Susquehanna University library.
“I am a lifelong whistler for my own enjoyment, and I constantly whistle classical tunes,” Graybill explained.
Among his favorite tunes is the Italian classic: Toselli’s Serenade, or Seranata Rimpianto.
“If you listen to it, you may find yourself stricken,” he said.
Graybill felt the topic of this book is important to music education as a whole. He was disturbed by the catering of sources offering music to those who prefer modern or country.
“I can enjoy both,” he explained. “But young people are not able to hear and judge the varied musical types.” He also believed that stereotypes tumble with exposure to the varied international musical venues.
He felt that he was straying from the pure musical topic when he compared two famous operatic composers, Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi. Guy Graybill was quite critical of Wagner and very favorable to Verdi.
Graybill feared British publishers might feel that he was being too harsh, but they did not hesitate to publish every word that he had written.
He was also particularly pleased that he was able to offer a fresh tally that he had made while working through the books in the Blough-Weis library. In that tally (p. 165), he found slightly more than two dozen cities in northern Europe, where Italian musicians taught and worked.
The tally is uniquely his work, and it helps to show the huge superiority of Italian musical leaders of the time. It’s a major point made in his book, and, as he says, “It’s an original tally that should be familiar to any music student who wishes to recognize the location of music’s wellspring!”
He had no particular advice to others who may want to try this genre. He would only say, “Write naturally and keep the writing conversational in tone, as I always try to do.”
Guy Graybill’s advice to writers is one that he uses regularly: “Don’t burden your verbs with the ‘mutant modifiers’ that are so prevalent today,” such as
“We will map out the route.”
“We will write up the report.”
“The entire house burned down.“
and the most annoying of all, and used constantly:
“Check us out!“