Alkan - Prelude Op. 31 No. 8 "The Song of the Mad Woman on the Sea Shore"

Prelude Op. 31 No. 8 "La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer"

Quoted from Ronald Smith's 'Alkan, The Man, The Music': "La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer (song of the madwoman on the shore) never fails to capture the imagination, yet its substance could scarcely be more ordinary. It is in its spare texture and in its spacing with a great gulf fixed between the hands, that we must seek its strange, hypnotic power. Deep in the bass the monotonous repetition of a simple half-close paints the vast solitude of the sea. High above, the woman's song rises to its frenetic climax and cuts out in a haze of pedal. As it fades the ear may just catch snatches of the song as they vanish into the continuing ground-swell. Readers of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister might sense a parallel with Mignon's 'bereft' mother, who lonely and deranged, wanders the lake side seeking the remains of her lost daughter."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• alkan
• liszt
• chopin

[Vindrag]

You can hear parts of this piece on the song "Shattering Sea" from Tori Amos new album "Night Of Hunters". It's really good! =)

[flicfan416]

@MustaDujak Is that how you measure your worth? in comment likes? You've proven my point

[InfiniteSpiral112358]

@BellahMel07 no, he doesnt want to kill her... this is not his perspective. it is hers.

[MJE112358132134]

TortoiseInABottle (5 months ago): obviously there must be two editions which differ. In theory, 7 flats is correct (key Ab minor), but composer or editors occasionally choose a key signature which is wrong, possibly because they think (wrongly in my opinion) it makes the music easier to read. Of course any accidentals that need to be altered because of the changed signature should have been looked after, so if you play the music as written, it will be correct.

[Bulacanos]

clippity clop cobblestones = roads

dippy wippy leafy sippies = tea

rooty tooty point and shootys = gun

mad = crazy

[20somethingstories]

@BellahMel07 In British English, 'mad' means crazy. I don't know how it came to mean angry in American English. It's a bit like how Americans mean angry when we say 'pissed' but to the British, it means drunk.

[MustaDujak]

@flicfan416 yeah, that's how... all I know is that you began attacking me for absolutely no reason, other than because you didn't like my comment which was completely harmless. I mean, who calls a total stranger pathetic?

[MustaDujak]

@flicfan416 still getting 5 likes. :) you're not.

[flicfan416]

@MustaDujak no you're not. You're here for your own personal validation. Pathetic

[BellahMel07]

very dark... i think he wants to kill her..lolll

[BellahMel07]

i found it funny they translated "La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer" to ''song of the madwoman on the shore'' bcoz in fact it means '' The Song of the crazy women on the shore'' nwayz love it tho