Editorial Product Review:Description:Finally, the long awaited recording is made! Since 1990, Benjamin Bagby has been performing the great epic Beowulf at major festivals and venues around the world. Now we have his remarkable performance on DVD, beautifully filmed by the award-winning Swedish director Stellan Olsson.
While Beowulf has come down to us as literature, as a written poem, the epic's pre-literate medieval audience would have known it through the performance of a scop, a bardic storyteller, as Bagby presents himself here. In this one-man tour de force Bagby accompanies himself on an Anglo-Saxon harp. Using the entire range of his voice, he delivers this gripping tale in Old English, as it could have been experienced more than one thousand years ago.
This is a performance which speaks to the lovers of Beowulf and oral epic, early music enthusiasts, Tolkien fans, medievalists, and anyone searching for virtuoso storytelling or a glimpse into the fascinating beginnings of the English language.
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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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The best way to "get" Beowulf
Benjamin Bagby's performance on stage of the first third of Beowulf is magnificent! It goes through Beowulf's killing of Grendal, but does not include Grendal's mother or the dragon. We don't know how Beowulf was sung but Bagby does a very careful job of imagining and recreating how the early bards, or scops, would have performed it, even recreating an Anglo-Saxon harp from archeological remains. He captures the excitement of the tale. Sometimes he sings, sometimes he speaks and sometimes it is something in between - all very expressively. He sings in Old English with modern English subtitles. Others have tried to do this and ended up sounding like 1950's American folk singers. Bagby is as close as we will get to the real thing. It is the only DVD, when I first watched it, that I have ever immediately played again. I just couldn't get enough. I think we all should ask Bagby to do another DVD in which he finishes the story, although I should add that it is very satisfying as it is.
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Benjamin Bagby singing/speeking Angelo Saxon Beowulf DVD
Yes very good, Benjamin Bagby performs Beowulf in English as it was spoken 1000 years ago or more ( better known as Angelo Saxon ). He recites the entire play. My Netherlands is good and i know a bit of german, however the Angelo Saxon isnt easy to understand. Its my aim to eventually understand the Angelo Saxon in this story ( so ive got the beowulf movie and a angelosaxon/modern english beowulf book ) with this ill be able to understand the play with a bit of study. I recomend this quality DVD, Benjamin Bagby gives an emotional and griping account of the story, the subtitles give a good translation.
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authenticity in the year 800 or so
Filmed in Sweden and recited in Old English and accompanied by a harp--this performance is as close to the spirit of the ancient warrior as the modern world is likely to encounter. I played the first part of Benjamin Bagby's Beowulf for my survey class in British literature, and the class was so attentive that there was nary a rustle in the room. This video will be part of any future class I teach on this period.
Customer Rating: -
Awesome performance
This was one of the most interesting performance DVD's I have ever seen. Mr Bagby was thoroughly entertaining, so much so that I had trouble breaking my attention away to look at the subtitles.
Even my 4-year-old son enjoyed it for ten minutes before losing interest. This is despite not being able to read the subtitles or understand the performance since it was in Old English.
This is not something to put on and then listen to in the background-- it demands your attention. Anyone interested in Old English iterature, oral epics generally, or related fields should listen to this. Furthermore one gets the impression that this would not be that different than one might get from watching Homer perform sections of the Illiad.
Note however that this performance is not the whole of the epic, but only includes the section relating to Grendel.
I hope more of Mr Bagby's works are recorded.
