Description
This is my composition from several movements written by us as members of the Delian Society to illustrate the novel “Le Horla” by Guy de Maupassant
Details, pdf files and mp3 files of the whole suite can be found at:
This movement is introduced by the narrator as follows:
“On the left, down yonder, lies Rouen, populous Rouen with its blue roofs massing under pointed, Gothic towers. Innumerable are they, delicate or broad, dominated by the spire of the cathedral, full of bells which sound through the blue air on fine mornings, sending their sweet and distant iron clang to me, their metallic sounds, now stronger and now weaker, according as the wind is strong or light.”
The protagonist is still in a happy mood, before the madness of “Le Horla” descends upon him.
The “sogetto cavato” on the name of Guy de Maupassant, used in all of the compositions, is taken as part of the Dorian scale initially, to be transmogrified halfway through into the major scale, representing the optimistic mood of our anti-hero at the outset as he listens to the cheerful bells of Rouen and thinks all is well with his world. In counterpoint to the sogetto cavato you can also hear the first quarter of the hourly chime of Rouen Cathedral played on the bassoon, both themes interweaving playfully in four time, in seven time and in two-two-three time throughout the movement. The misleadingly cheerful scene is set.