(César Franck: born in Liège, Belgium, December 10, 1822; died in Paris, November 8, 1890)
This symphonic poem, composed in 1876, was suggested by the opening lines of a poem by Leconte de Lisle, though the derivation is not avowed in the score. A prose translation of these lines may be given as follows:
"O floating breezes of the skies, sweet breaths of lovely spring, that with capricious kisses caress the hills and the plains!"Virgins, daughters of Æolus, lovers of peace, eternal Nature wakens to your songs!"[55]
"O floating breezes of the skies, sweet breaths of lovely spring, that with capricious kisses caress the hills and the plains!"Virgins, daughters of Æolus, lovers of peace, eternal Nature wakens to your songs!"[55]
"O floating breezes of the skies, sweet breaths of lovely spring, that with capricious kisses caress the hills and the plains!
"Virgins, daughters of Æolus, lovers of peace, eternal Nature wakens to your songs!"[55]
Æolus was conceived by the Greeks to be a companion of the gods and master of the winds. Jeremy Collier wrote of him: "Æolus, a king of the seven islands betwixt Italy and Sicily called Æoliæ, very Hospitable, he taught his People to use Sails, and by observing the Fire or Smoak of Strongyle (Stromboli) could predict how the Winds would blow, whence the Poets call'd him the God of the Winds. He was also a skilful Astrologer, which contributed to this Fiction. There were Three of this Name." This is how Ulysses described to King Alcinous his visit to Æolus:
"To the Æolian island we attain'd,That swum about still on the sea, where reign'dThe God-lov'd Æolus Hippotades.A wall of steel it had; and in the seasA wave-beat-smooth rock moved about the wall.Twelve children in his house imperialWere born to him; of which six daughters were,And six were sons, that youth's sweet flower did bear.His daughters to his sons he gave as wives;Who spent in feastful comforts all their lives,Close seated by their sire and his grave spouse.Past number were the dishes that the houseMade ever savor; and still full the hallAs long as day shined."[56]