The 1914 tone poem "The Forsaken Merman" by English composer Ernest Farrar was based on a poem about a woman named Margaret who married a merman and lived many happy years with him and their children under the sea. But one Easter she heard the tolling of church bells and feared for her mortal soul and left her husband and children at sea. At shore, they call out to her but she stays on land to live her human life and pray. At the front of the printed score Ferrar describes all this, concluding: "Margaret sits at her spinning wheel in the town singing a song of joy for the things she has regained, but in her heart is the remembrance of her other life in the sea – the song ceases, she steals to her window, looks out at the sea and bursts into tears." The Forsaken Merman by Ernest Farrar is today's Midday Masterpiece at 2:00 pm.
Classical Music Playlist, June 3, 2022
June 3, 2022