Five Works That You Believe Depict Heartbreak

Started by Mirror Image, July 24, 2021, 07:35:23 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

relm1

d'Indy's Souvenirs: In February 1906, d'Indy returned from a conducting tour of the United States to find his wife, Isabelle, dying from a brain hemorrhage.  In her memory he composed Souvenirs, which relives their happy and contented summer holidays together amid their beloved ancestral countryside as well as his heartbreak at the loss of the love of his life.  This isn't the "heartbreak" of anguish but of longing, joyful nostalgia, memories of a cherished love one now gone ending in a whisper as if the experiences and memories they shared are all in the past, eventually lost to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFHRRGUnAQ&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0aQUZQDkaE&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi0gdgkp-_k&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMqLk0KZsPA&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=10


Roasted Swan

Quote from: relm1 on September 09, 2021, 05:49:49 AM
d'Indy's Souvenirs: In February 1906, d'Indy returned from a conducting tour of the United States to find his wife, Isabelle, dying from a brain hemorrhage.  In her memory he composed Souvenirs, which relives their happy and contented summer holidays together amid their beloved ancestral countryside as well as his heartbreak at the loss of the love of his life.  This isn't the "heartbreak" of anguish but of longing, joyful nostalgia, memories of a cherished love one now gone ending in a whisper as if the experiences and memories they shared are all in the past, eventually lost to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFHRRGUnAQ&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0aQUZQDkaE&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi0gdgkp-_k&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMqLk0KZsPA&list=OLAK5uy_mBos7OIh8zXqmgpzJ_0PhqQJ1QC26xi8k&index=10

Goodness me I know the piece but not the context - listening to the Naxos recording now - "joyful nostalgia" is an excellent description.  In answer to the thread immediate thoughts are Suk Asrael Symphony and Zemlinsky The Mermaid.  I'm sure some others will soon spring to mind......

vandermolen

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on September 21, 2021, 01:15:30 AM
Elgar 'Sospiri'.

Good choice. Such a fascinating piece within Elgar's oeuvre. I think Sospiri means something like "sighs" in Italian.

vandermolen

Quote from: Mirror Image on September 21, 2021, 06:54:10 AM
Good choice. Such a fascinating piece within Elgar's oeuvre. I think Sospiri means something like "sighs" in Italian.
Thanks John - I'm sure that you are right.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

Quote from: vandermolen on September 21, 2021, 06:56:36 AM
Thanks John - I'm sure that you are right.

In the John Bridcut documentary on Elgar titled The Man Behind the Mask, a good bit of time was spent talking about Sospiri. A great documentary that anyone who is a fan of this composer should check out. I wish Bridcut would do more composer documentaries.

Symphonic Addict

Finzi's music, somehow, reminds me of this sentiment or situation. I don't know that much about his work and life, but I do feel a strong sense of nostalgic that could include heartbreak and longing. An example is his Romance for string orchestra. The same goes for The Fall of the Leave (a similar name to that by Langgaard). BTW, there is a lovely section in the initial moments of his [Rued] Symphony No. 13 that makes me think of this emotion or state. A little nostalgic waltz?
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

kyjo

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on September 25, 2021, 07:34:37 PM
Finzi's music, somehow, reminds me of this sentiment or situation. I don't know that much about his work and life, but I do feel a strong sense of nostalgic that could include heartbreak and longing. An example is his Romance for string orchestra. The same goes for The Fall of the Leave (a similar name to that by Langgaard). BTW, there is a lovely section in the initial moments of his [Rued] Symphony No. 13 that makes me think of this emotion or state. A little nostalgic waltz?

Totally agree about Finzi. Few other composers' music can arouse such strong feelings of nostalgia and longing within me. Other affecting examples in his output include the slow movement of his Cello Concerto, the Introit for violin and orchestra, and the Eclogue for piano and orchestra.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff