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Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:46:13 -0700 |
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Bob Draper ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>When I first listened to this piece I did not know the story. I knew only
>the title. I had a mental image of what I percieved from the piece. A
>night of mystery and suspense with magic afoot. (kind of midsummer nights
>dreamish.)
>
>The actual story is dramatically different from this. I can feel the
>fellow's distress at being presented with such a situation and (as I
>said in my other posting) I think few men would react in such a way.
>I certainly would not present any lover of my with a parallel situation
>and expect her to stand by me.
Well, while I might agree that Richard Diemehl's poem (not story) is
rather sentimental, even maudlin for modern tastes, I also think that a)
Schoenberg's music transcends its inspiration and b) you can take both poem
and sextet as portraying the redemptive (cf closing scene of Goethe's Faust
Part II) or transforming power of love, a notion with which I personally
have no problem.
As for your assertion that "few men would react in such a way", just how
familiar are you with the poem? The woman got pregnant before she met her
lover. Where is the difference between this and taking on the child(ren)
of a former marriage or marrying a single mother?
Having once married a woman with three children, I can confidently assert
that there are men who would act honorably and, if you like, albeit an
unfashionable notion today, nobly faced with such a situation.
Deryk Barker
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