FilmWatch Weekly: 'The History of Sound' makes a powerful echo, plus a fall film festival frenzy takes hold * Oregon ArtsWatch

"David's a musicologist, even if he might not apply that word, which had only been coined a couple of decades prior. More colloquially, he's a song collector, making regular treks into rural America to record, on wax cylinders, the traditional airs that European immigrants brought with them and made their own, and which would go on to form one of the major support beams in the American musical edifice."

"Lionel and David, who immediately and convincingly fall for one another, commence weekly dates that soon turn into assignations, with all the subterfuge required of 1917 New England. Of course, it being 1917, their happy routine is disrupted when the United States enters World War I, classes are suspended, and David enlists. (Lionel's farewell words are "Write. Send chocolate. Don't die.")"

"That's just the first act of The History of Sound, which proceeds through the next decade-via Rome, Oxford, and Newport-at a pace and with an air of longing that echoes the plaintive sincerity of the voices David captures and that Lionel possesses in perfection-it's his a cappella rendition of the ballad "Silver Dagger" (later the very first track on the very first album by Joan Baez) that first draws David's admiration and affection. David has to hush the entire room before"

Lionel Worthing grows up in 1910 Kentucky, experiencing folk songs synesthetically and learning tunes from his fiddle-playing father. He moves to Boston on scholarship and meets David White after overhearing a hometown melody in a tavern. David collects rural American airs on wax cylinders, preserving immigrant-derived songs central to American musical roots. They fall in love and begin clandestine weekly meetings in 1917 New England, then separate when the U.S. enters World War I and David enlists. The story follows them across Rome, Oxford, and Newport over the next decade, maintaining a mood of longing that mirrors the plaintive voices David records. Lionel's a cappella "Silver Dagger" cements David's admiration, tying music, memory, and devotion to their relationship.

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