Piano Sonata #27 in E major - Barcarolle
Listen to Piano Sonata #27 in E major - Barcarolle
“Piano Sonata #27 in E major" by James Domine is subtitled "Barcarolle" because it derives its inspiration from the famous duet from "Tales of Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach. The main theme in 6/8 meter is an onomatopoeic representation of the gentle swaying of a gondola as it floats lightly upon the rising and falling rhythmic currents of the Venetian lagoon. Almost resembling a waltz, the melody dances gracefully upon the lapping of the waves, with the water making an elegant dance partner. Decked out in the full costume of a masked ball, swaying somewhat unsteadily from side to side, and because the water never smells right, especially in Venice, always betraying an acrid, moldy pungency, the air is heavily perfumed, but is all the more full of abandonment and romance. The voyage of a gondola is a clear metaphor for life, as petals drop from the fading rose, leaving a drying stalk and thorns, the kind of frozen, unforgotten moment that makes life what it is and each of us who we are. Across the wide expanse of water, festooned by fellow pairs of gondoliers (if such a word can exist) who each on their own individually separate paths seek to engage the promise of romance that the voyage seems to guarantee. The gondola, like a Ouija board, crystal ball, or deck of tarot cards provides the medium for the conjuration of supernatural manifestations of recently experienced and not yet fading memories.
The inclination to dream is difficult to resist as the gondola rocks us like a baby in a cradle. Soon enough thoughts turn to the River Styx, and the boatman Charon who guides us all eventually to our forbidden and inevitably destiny. Our fate is now inexorably tied up in the journey and through the shop-worn lens of time-honored experience we catch fleeting glimpses of love, both real and imagined, as the wind and waves contrive to manufacture a conspiracy of desire. Is it real or imagined? Who shall pay the boatman?
As the voyage continues, the gondola dips and raises along its course. Splashed with the spray of bittersweet melancholy, we hear snatches of echoes from half-forgotten sideways emotional conversations, familiar hellos and good-byes that lovers once knew along these well-traveled canals and watery passageways that meander through ancient streets and alleys of Venice, and as the current flows into the lagoon and onward out to the Adriatic Sea, the melody gradually fades away as the gondola disappears around a curve and off into the distance.
Listen to Piano Sonata #27 in E major - Barcarolle
“Piano Sonata #27 in E major" by James Domine is subtitled "Barcarolle" because it derives its inspiration from the famous duet from "Tales of Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach. The main theme in 6/8 meter is an onomatopoeic representation of the gentle swaying of a gondola as it floats lightly upon the rising and falling rhythmic currents of the Venetian lagoon. Almost resembling a waltz, the melody dances gracefully upon the lapping of the waves, with the water making an elegant dance partner. Decked out in the full costume of a masked ball, swaying somewhat unsteadily from side to side, and because the water never smells right, especially in Venice, always betraying an acrid, moldy pungency, the air is heavily perfumed, but is all the more full of abandonment and romance. The voyage of a gondola is a clear metaphor for life, as petals drop from the fading rose, leaving a drying stalk and thorns, the kind of frozen, unforgotten moment that makes life what it is and each of us who we are. Across the wide expanse of water, festooned by fellow pairs of gondoliers (if such a word can exist) who each on their own individually separate paths seek to engage the promise of romance that the voyage seems to guarantee. The gondola, like a Ouija board, crystal ball, or deck of tarot cards provides the medium for the conjuration of supernatural manifestations of recently experienced and not yet fading memories.
The inclination to dream is difficult to resist as the gondola rocks us like a baby in a cradle. Soon enough thoughts turn to the River Styx, and the boatman Charon who guides us all eventually to our forbidden and inevitably destiny. Our fate is now inexorably tied up in the journey and through the shop-worn lens of time-honored experience we catch fleeting glimpses of love, both real and imagined, as the wind and waves contrive to manufacture a conspiracy of desire. Is it real or imagined? Who shall pay the boatman?
As the voyage continues, the gondola dips and raises along its course. Splashed with the spray of bittersweet melancholy, we hear snatches of echoes from half-forgotten sideways emotional conversations, familiar hellos and good-byes that lovers once knew along these well-traveled canals and watery passageways that meander through ancient streets and alleys of Venice, and as the current flows into the lagoon and onward out to the Adriatic Sea, the melody gradually fades away as the gondola disappears around a curve and off into the distance.
Listen to Piano Sonata #27 in E major - Barcarolle
“Piano Sonata #27 in E major" by James Domine is subtitled "Barcarolle" because it derives its inspiration from the famous duet from "Tales of Hoffmann" by Jacques Offenbach. The main theme in 6/8 meter is an onomatopoeic representation of the gentle swaying of a gondola as it floats lightly upon the rising and falling rhythmic currents of the Venetian lagoon. Almost resembling a waltz, the melody dances gracefully upon the lapping of the waves, with the water making an elegant dance partner. Decked out in the full costume of a masked ball, swaying somewhat unsteadily from side to side, and because the water never smells right, especially in Venice, always betraying an acrid, moldy pungency, the air is heavily perfumed, but is all the more full of abandonment and romance. The voyage of a gondola is a clear metaphor for life, as petals drop from the fading rose, leaving a drying stalk and thorns, the kind of frozen, unforgotten moment that makes life what it is and each of us who we are. Across the wide expanse of water, festooned by fellow pairs of gondoliers (if such a word can exist) who each on their own individually separate paths seek to engage the promise of romance that the voyage seems to guarantee. The gondola, like a Ouija board, crystal ball, or deck of tarot cards provides the medium for the conjuration of supernatural manifestations of recently experienced and not yet fading memories.
The inclination to dream is difficult to resist as the gondola rocks us like a baby in a cradle. Soon enough thoughts turn to the River Styx, and the boatman Charon who guides us all eventually to our forbidden and inevitably destiny. Our fate is now inexorably tied up in the journey and through the shop-worn lens of time-honored experience we catch fleeting glimpses of love, both real and imagined, as the wind and waves contrive to manufacture a conspiracy of desire. Is it real or imagined? Who shall pay the boatman?
As the voyage continues, the gondola dips and raises along its course. Splashed with the spray of bittersweet melancholy, we hear snatches of echoes from half-forgotten sideways emotional conversations, familiar hellos and good-byes that lovers once knew along these well-traveled canals and watery passageways that meander through ancient streets and alleys of Venice, and as the current flows into the lagoon and onward out to the Adriatic Sea, the melody gradually fades away as the gondola disappears around a curve and off into the distance.