Marice Ravel's "Ondine" performed by Cheryl Shantz
Cheryl Shantz performs her best loved piano piece "Ondine." This is the 1st Movement of "Gaspard de la Nuit" (treasurer of the night), composed by Maurice Ravel in 1908 and based on three poems by the French poet Aloysius Bertrand (1807-1841). It consists of three movements which are "Ondine," "Le Gibet," and "Scarbo." "Ondine" is a dreamy tale of a water nymph or fairy who seduces her male listener in order to entice and draw him down to her kingdom deep at the bottom of the lake in the elemental triangle of fire, earth, and air. According to some legends, Ondine cannot gain a soul unless she marries a man and has his child. The piano music creates the mood of water tinkling in a stream, woven with cascades. Below is a translation of Aloysius Bertrands poem "Ondine." Ondine
"...I believed I heard; a dim harmony charming my sleep. And close by me spread a similar murmur of uninterrupted songs from a sad and tender voice"
"Listen! Listen! It is me, Ondine, spirit of the water, brushing with these drops of water the resonant diamond panes of your window lighted by the gloomy rays of the moon; and here in a silk dress, is the lady of the manor, gazing from her balcony at the beautiful starry night and the lovely sleeping lake."
"Each wave is a water sprite who swims in the current; each current is a path, winding toward my palace, and my palace is fluidly built, at the bottom of the lake, in the triangle formed by fire, earth, and air."
"Listen! Listen! My father is beating the croaking water with a green alder branch, and my sisters caress, with their arms of foam, the cool islands of grass, of water lilies, and gladiolas or tease the decrepit willow, who is fishing with a line of leaves."
"Her song murmured, she begged me to receive her ring on my finger, to be her husband, and to visit her palace with her, to be the king of the lakes."
"And when I answered that I loved a mortal woman, sullen and vexed, she cried a few tears, burst out laughing, and vanished in a sudden shower that streamed white down my blue windowpanes."
"...I believed I heard; a dim harmony charming my sleep. And close by me spread a similar murmur of uninterrupted songs from a sad and tender voice"
"Listen! Listen! It is me, Ondine, spirit of the water, brushing with these drops of water the resonant diamond panes of your window lighted by the gloomy rays of the moon; and here in a silk dress, is the lady of the manor, gazing from her balcony at the beautiful starry night and the lovely sleeping lake."
"Each wave is a water sprite who swims in the current; each current is a path, winding toward my palace, and my palace is fluidly built, at the bottom of the lake, in the triangle formed by fire, earth, and air."
"Listen! Listen! My father is beating the croaking water with a green alder branch, and my sisters caress, with their arms of foam, the cool islands of grass, of water lilies, and gladiolas or tease the decrepit willow, who is fishing with a line of leaves."
"Her song murmured, she begged me to receive her ring on my finger, to be her husband, and to visit her palace with her, to be the king of the lakes."
"And when I answered that I loved a mortal woman, sullen and vexed, she cried a few tears, burst out laughing, and vanished in a sudden shower that streamed white down my blue windowpanes."