This blog is dedicated to the Israeli poet Yael Cohen. You
may recall that she asked if she could use our square for “The Lark Ascending”
for the cover of her next book, In Constant Spreading Motion. Well, the book is
out (and the cover looks great!) Apart from the Vaughan Williams, there are
two other poems which respond to pieces of music.
The first one is Song
of the Birds, El Cant del Ocells, a Catalan folk tune. If you don't know it, the best way to
experience it is to go to hear it
played on the cello by the great Pablo Casals on UN Day, October 24 1971, in
New York. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt9iz3xApVg. He says, “The birds in this piece sing peace, peace, peace
and the music is the music that Bach and Beethoven and all the greats would have
loved and admired – it is so beautiful, and it is also the soul of my country –
Catalonia.” He also later sadly says that we have always wanted peace, and we
have talked about it for centuries. It was in Catalonia (now part of France) that
leaders of nearby states gathered to talk peace, and that was in the 11th
century. We haven't come very far.
I chose to show five dove-like birds, because the tune keeps
switching between 2/4 and 3/4, and each one carries a sprig of laurel, for peace.
I have also broken one of our rules (that each square must contain a predominant amount of either coral
or emerald green) and have used mainly blue and white, the colours of the
Israeli flag. Good luck with your new book, Yael!
I’d also like to say hello to Steve Hancoff, the guitarist
and composer who toured Israel in 2002, and whose e-book, a biography of Pablo
Casals comes out this fall. Look out for it!
The second piece of music which inspired a poem
was Der Lindenbaum from Schubert’s Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey). Der
Lindenbaum (the linden tree) was the fifth in the song cycle, a setting of 24
poems by Wilhelm
Müller. The entire cycle is dark and brooding, not surprising
because Schubert was already dying at that time, and in this one the winter
traveller passes by the shelter of the linden tree and continues on his journey.
Yael speaks in her poem of her violinist father who spent much of her childhood
on concert tours, and how she wanted to cut the strings off it and hang it in a tree. The linden tree in the text says “you should have found your
rest here,” and in her poem, Yael says the same thing.
I can’t help reflecting on the process by which art inspires
art. A poem by Müller inspires a song by Schubert, which inspires a poem by
Yael Cohen, and both inspire an 8” quilt square. Long may artists continue to inspire each other. To quote Austin Kleon - Step #1 Wonder at something; Step #2 Get others to wonder with you.
Happy listening!
Susan
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