[Vwoolf] larks

[Martin, James]

When I first read it, I thought of "The Lark Ascending" - thus a motion going up - and then the plunge, which is, of course, Septimus's fate. The duality of the two main characters is there from the start. Septimus dies so that others might live. The high priestess role of Clarissa at her party has been written about in the secondary literature.
Ralph Vaughn-Williams's "The Lark Ascending" was composed in 1914 but, on account of WWI, wasn't performed until June 14, 1921 under Adrian Boult. Marie Hall was the solo violinist, a "very charming woman, very small and jolly and with a great sense of humour." Did VW know her? Did she go to that concert? Did she know the music? I'll bet she did. 
In the poem on which the tone poem was based, one finds the lines:
[...]And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup,
And he the wine which overflows
To lift us with him as he goes:
 - this reference is intoned in the opening bars of the piece, in which the melody in the violin soars upwards.
Also found in the poem are these lines, which make me think of Virginia's demise:
All intervolv'd and spreading wide,
Like water-dimples down a tide
Where ripple ripple overcurls
And eddy into eddy whirls;

Being interested in music history, I have found numerous other references in Mrs. Dalloway to works from the classical catalog. There is the woman near the Tube singing "Allerseelen" by Richard Strauß, a direct reference to the day of the year when spirits from the past (Sally, Peter) walk the earth.
In The Voyage Out, there is a reference to Opus 112 by Beethoven. Look in the catalog of his works and you will see that it is "Calm Sea & Prosperous Voyage" and follows directly the composer's last three piano sonatas (Rachel was playing a late sonata - probably the opening of op. 109).  Remaining for a moment in the late opus numbers of the mad king Ludwig van, we see Op. 117 "King Stephen" (more than just "incidental music" for Virginia Stephen?).
Op. 113 is "The Ruins of Athens" - could this have sparked Woolf's naming of the passing warship, Euphrosyne (one of the Greek charities)?
Then there is Op. 128, "Der Kuß". The lyrics refer to a woman being kissed against her will by a man. She threatened to scream if he did it. He did it and did she scream? Yes, long afterwards. The girl's name was Chloe, a Greek name. 

Ich war bei Chloen ganz allein,
Und küssen wollt ich sie:
Jedoch sie sprach,
Sie würde schrein,
Es sei vergebne Müh.

Ich wagt es doch und küßte sie,
Trotz ihrer Gegenwehr.
Und schrie sie nicht?
Jawohl, sie schrie,
Doch lange hinterher.

And need I mention that this reference comes right before Rachel and Richard (Dalloway!) talk about love, "a word that seemed to unveil the skies for Rachel"? Please remind me, someone, when he kissed her!

Such fun!
Jim

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] Im Auftrag von Toni McNaron
Gesendet: Dienstag, 17. September 2013 15:27
An: woolf list
Betreff: Re: [Vwoolf] larks

I agree with Michael Davis in that both the bird and the playful gaminess is going on in the reference.  I also think about the fact that larks, when they flourished, were often the very first birds to greet the dawn, hence they were seen as excited about another day in which they could make beautiful music, fly around, eat bugs, etc.  So a imagine larks as exuberant, hence perhaps how the verb "to lark" came into existence in the first place.

Toni McNaron

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