Last Saturday morning I was on my way to have breakfast with my son when I turned on the radio and happened upon WCPN.
They were playing a harp piece I hadn't heard before, and I got caught up in the melody.
Soothing, with what sounded to me like Asian overtones, I was entranced. I don't know a lot about classical music, but I wanted to know more about this piece.
As it turns out, it's by Claude Debussy, and it's called Danse Sacreé et Danse Profane (The Sacred and the Profane). It was commissioned in 1904 by Pleyel, a Parisian instrument manufacturing company. They wanted to showcase a new type of harp that they hoped would revolutionize the instrument.
Alas, the new harp never did take the world by storm. It was purported to have been too heavy and lacking in resonance. It hung on until 1930, when production ceased.
Debussy's music, however, lived on, and, as it turns out, has become a favorite among harpists.
Given that Debussy's Clare de Lune is a favorite of mine, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I enjoy the Sacred and the Profane so much. Both have the ability to reach down and touch something in me that I cannot explain. Like the notes are tapping away at my soul.
Aren't new discoveries – no matter how old the source – just the best?
Public domain image of the Pleyel Harp, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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