Alkan - Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages' - 50 Ans - Ronald Smith - 1/2

"Inevitably Alkan's conception of the ideal marriage must remain a fantasy - a nostalgic dream shattered by the sinister rattle of chains. His final movement 50 Ans is prefaced by seven lines from Aeschylus's tragic poem Prometheus Bound (verses 750-754, 1051 and 1091):

'No, you could not endure my suffering.
If only destiny allowed me to die.
To die. That would be my deliverance from my torment.
There will be no limit to my woes while Jupiter's power remains.
I shall live...
Look and see if I deserve these torments which I endure'.

"The whole legend of Prometheus, the bringer of fire, chained to a rock and enduring exclusion and torture for his gift to mankind must have struck a particularly sympathetic chord in Alkan himself, already set on a lonely path which would ultimately lead him to social and artistic isolation."

*All quotes taking from Ronald Smith's book Alkan - The Man, The music.*

Category:

Music

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• Charles-Valentin
• Alkan
• Grande
• Sonate
• 50
• ans
• prometheus
• bound
• ronald
• smith
• kanye
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