OvergrownPath.com: 'The moderate man is contemptible'

[Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs]

Bob Shingleton of On An Overgrown Path writes to us:

“This project surely deserves support -

http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/10/moderate-man-is-contemptible.html

Regards,

Bob

Here is an excerpt from the post:

“OvergrownPath.com

Monday, October 31, 2011

It will surprise many to learn that my headline is supplied by Ralph Vaughan Williams. He was one of a group of composers, which included Gustav Holst, John Ireland and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who met in the late 1890s to discuss William Morris' brand of socialism, and Vaughan-Williams' proposition that 'the moderate man is contemptible' was the subject of one of their debates. Vaughan Williams was a leading figure in the English folk music revival and the pentatonic scale, which is the common foundation of folk music around the world, links the English rural tradition to African American spirituals. The presence of the Afro-English Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in Vaughan Williams' circle indicates that at the time racial prejudice was less virulent in Britain than in America, which is why that peerless exponent of the African-American spiritual Paul Robeson chose to live in England from 1928 to 1939 where he was able both to perform and pursue his radical politics.” [Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is featured at AfriClassical.com. In observance of the 2012 Centennial of his death, we are collaborating with the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation of the U.K., http://www.sctf.org.uk/]