Music Chat: Five Reasons Why Nymphs Are Bad For You

The tale of a young man captured by the erotic power of a nymph runs like a thread through the music of the nineteenth century. Here are five tone poems, by Mendelssohn, Fibich, Novák, Bax, and Sibelius, that treat this theme in a distinctive and musically captivating way.
(Musical Example courtesy of Naxos)

[ScotPeacock]

A great romp through the enchanted woods. Thanks, David.
I worked on the Naxos Bax recording. It was such great fun capturing that wild opulence. We recorded the craggy 4th, and on the next day when we returned, the sound had completely changed in the hall. I don’t know, I think Glasgow was having its one annual sunny day and the humidity and temperature completely changed. I was going back and forth like a fiddler’s elbow, moving the mics an inch back here, an inch left there etc etc, to get that richness for Nympholept but also keep the clarity. I think we did ok; and there was a great pub just along the road that specialised in whisky. Aye, that was a good day.

[kend.]

Bax's Nympholept is my favorite Bax work and I am pleased that you found a video home for the work. It is classic Bax...ultra atmospheric...even a little creepy at the open? I first heard the work around 30 years ago late at night on Arthur Hoehn's "Music through the Night"program and the work has been a welcome friend since. My version of choice is the Bryden Thomson on Chandos.

[VoceCorale]

I listened to some chamber pieces by Fibich: the horn quintet and the works for violin and piano. Wonderful stuff - they had me thinking I must get to know him better. The Abbado set is great save for some audible edits.

[MorganHayes_Composer.Pianist]

Another wonderful video.
A mere miniature, but Levitzki’s
“ Enchanted Nymph ”’is a delightful salon piece which lifts the spirits, and would make a nice dance piece . Stephen Hough, and a few others recorded it.

[miltalive]

This was a fun listening lesson. I rounded it off with the Dance of the 7 Veils (while visualizing is the Aida Gomez performance).

[jfddoc]

Let's not forget Catalani who composed a Dance of the Water Nymphs for his Opera "Loreley." There, the Nymphs convince her to pledge eternal love to Alberich, and ends up acquiring supernatural powers which she uses to destroy her unfaithful lover.

[damiangruszczynski]

You also have nymphs in a more positive role in Ravel’ Daphnis et Chloe / though not for pirates at the end / ;-) cheers! Very interesting review

[mickeytheviewmoo]

I was listening to Oskar Nedbal tonight and The Tale of Simple Johnny: III. Scene 2. ..Guess what? Dance of the nymphs. Live recording from Czech Philharmonic, Zdeněk Košler (cond). Love these obscure works

[c.iuliusbalbus]

The same tale is told in "Herr Oluf", an orchestral song by (ehem) Hans Pfitzner. For what it's worth, there are at least two recordings: one by Fischer-Dieskau, of course, with Wolfgang Sawallisch in Munich, I think; and the other, sung by Hans Christoph Begemann in a wonderful disc on CPO. Incidentally, it's a great thing to hear about Bax and his marvellous "Nympholept", and to recall the sibelian nymph, beautifully discussed in DH's book on the Finnish composer.

[AlexMadorsky]

Bax is such an underrated composer. Somebody dumped his complete symphonic cycle with Fredman on vinyl at my local record store recently. I snapped the LPs up immediately.

[knivgaffelskje]

I can indeed testify to the dangers of mingling with nymphs. Beware, good people!

[lesonyrra]

Look, I turn 59 in a couple of weeks and am twice divorced and, let me tell you, I'm not gonna turn away a nymph -- wood or otherwise. Which way to the Mystic Wood?

[bbailey]

Fibich's opera Sarka (and by extension Smetana's) is, not quite a nymph, but a real world and quite lethal extension of the idea.
And, for dessert, with whipped cream and cherry on top, may I suggest Lehar's Vilja Lied, the witch of the wood, from the Merry Widow?

[charlescoleman]

Would Bax's Fand be considered a "Nymph" per se?

[jlaurson]

If I may make a suggestion: If you let the video run during the sound sample (and mute it, of course; but perhaps also actually listening to the piece), then we'd get a more organic experience than you suddenly death-staring like a frozen Han Solo at us for a minute. :-)

[ahartify]

Hanging out with nymphs. Tell me about it.