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Saturday, February 3, 2018

Musical Interlude

[For politics, please scroll down]

One example of the "fascination with all things Araby"* during the Romantic Period, Alexander Borodin's haunting tone poem In the Steppes of Central Asia:



* from Raphael Patai's The Arab Mind

8 comments:

  1. He had quite an interesting life, great selection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alexander Borodin said

    “In the silence of the monotonous steppes of Central Asia is heard the unfamiliar sound of a peaceful Russian song. From the distance we hear the approach of horses and camels and the bizarre and melancholy notes of an oriental melody.

    A caravan approaches, escorted by Russian soldiers, and continues safely on its way through the immense desert. It disappears slowly. The notes of the Russian and Asiatic melodies join in a common harmony, which dies away as the caravan disappears in the distance.”

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Secret Sharer said

    This poignant Borodin masterpiece is used to accompany wonderful black and white footage of Moscow Clad in Snow (1908) –– a perfect evocation of the essence of a once quiet, now vanished world.

    https://youtu.be/EPgbIK002us

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had never thought about what 'central asia' looked like in the sense of this very un-Russian looking space at the edge of the Russian empire. Amazing slideshow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baysider,
      Glad that you enjoyed the slide show. It really did add to the piece, IMO.

      Delete
  5. Haven;t you posted this before?

    Whatever, it's an excellent piece.

    ReplyDelete

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