Monday, October 28, 2019

Die Toteninsel

Do not waste your time with music that is trite or ignoble. Life is too short to spend it wandering in the barren Saharas of musical trash.
~S.V. Rachmaninoff


The barren Saharas of musical trash! Tell us how you really feel, Rachmaninoff. Isle of the Dead (Die Toteninsel) by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) for Halloween-week Music Monday.


Rachmaninoff was inspired by the best-known painting of Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), also called Isle of the Dead (Die Toteninsel):


Rachmaninoff's inspiration was a black-and-white print of the painting. He said that had he seen the original in color, he probably would not have written the music. Huh!

1 comment:

Jeanne said...

But do not go to the isle of the dead, or try to speak to its inhabitants!