Done your homework? Read the story? Good. Now read it again with the following in mind: the Emperor as the dying Chopin. And the nightingale as Jenny Lind. And, possibly, the artificial nightingale as Countess Delfina Potocka...
Have a look at this extraordinary stuff from Icons of Europe, under which auspices a whole book has appeared on the subject of Chopin's relationship with the great Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. It seems that Chopin was the love of the 'Swedish Nightingale''s life. Everybody loved her - notably, Hans Christian Andersen - but she wanted to marry Chopin; and after his death she put tremendous philanthropic efforts into raising funds to combat tuberculosis.
My only problem with the suggested interpretation of The Nightingale is that the story was published in 1843 and Chopin didn't die until 1849. But was this a case of life imitating art? Such things happen...Either way, it's a fascinating notion.
3 comments:
Just so you know, his icons of Europe link doesn't seem to work. (grrr)
As a long-time Andersen-o-phile the mere mention of his name on a music blog does my heart good.
Thanks, Elaine! Good to hear from you. In case you didn't see it at the time, here's the article I wrote about Andersen & music for The Independent when he had his bicentenary. I'm continually fascinated by his stories and how much truth about human nature he manages to encapsulate in them...
Thanks for your article! I spent several years setting all the Andersen I could to music including operatic settings of "The Snow Queen," vocal chamber music settings of "The Bird Phoenix" and "The Pen and the Inkwell," and narrated versions of "The Happy Family," "The Snail and the Rosebush," and "The Ugly Duckling."
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