In Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, on page 116 of my Penguin copy, Mademoiselle lets Edna read the letters Robert sent to her while playing a song Robert requested she play for Edna. Mademoiselle improvises the beginning and then flows into Chopin’s ‘Fantasie Impromptu (Op.66)’, which flowed into Isolde’s song ‘Liebestod’ (most likely) from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, and back to the ‘Impromptu’ again. I think it’s important to listen to the songs in order to fully understand the characters (Mademoiselle, Edna, and Robert), plus know a thing or two about the music like readers of the time would have known.
Chopin's 'Impromptu': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gus4dnQuiGk This is one of Chopin's songs that were published after his death even though he specifically said not to publish any of his unpublished works upon his death. It's a piece surrounded with quite a bit of mystery, but it was likely composed as paid commision for a baroness. Wagner's song 'Liebestod' from the opera Tristan und Isolde: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAi7dnvNCw0 This is a non-instrumental version sung by Maria Callas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg3pHkzUerc This is what Wikipedia says about the meaning of Liebestod: "When used as a literary term, Liebestod (from German Liebe, love and Tod, death) refers to the theme of erotic death or "love death", meaning the two lovers' consummation of their love in death or after death."
Both songs have something to do with death and have a similar sort of energy that seems like a soda bottle bubbling up before it explodes... Hmm... I think I see foreshadowing here.... *wink wink* *cough* And it may also just explain why Edna wept so much when she heard them played.
Image Credit: https://wallup.net/piano-antiques/
And that concludes my dump of posts all at once. XD I needed to make up for the ones I missed, plus post my one for this week since I’ll be out of state the rest of the week. Happy reading!
















