In the "Liebestod" from Wagner's "Tristan", Isolde sings of the wonderful aromas, smells she is experiencing; and asks(if I recall correctly)if no one else smells them?
How many instances in any kind of classical music, can you recall where smells, aromas, odors, or anything relating to that most often neglected of our five senses, can you recall?
In operas, symphonies, tone poems, whatever.
Five(5)? Or perhaps as many as (10)?
Wotan How about the 2nd Act duet between Octavian and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier? He brings her a silver rose, and she comments on the smell. He tells her it's a drop of Persian rose oil.
How about H盲nsel und Gretel, where they first catch sight ( and smell) of the Witch's House? One or the other comments on the smell...
Casting further back, historically, doesn't Don Giovanni mention something about il profumo di donna? and how good his nose is?
The famous duet from Lakme, Sous le dome epais, talks about the scent of flowers, especially jasmine.
The Flower duet from Madame Butterfly, also a line from Butterfly's big aria Un bel di, where she mentions that Pinkerton used to call her the scent of verbena?
Mimi's aria Mi chiamano Mimi, where she mentions that she may not be rich in big things, but loves to watch the first flowers unfolding in spring, and how there's notheing better than il profumo d'un fior?
Can't list all the classic German Lieder where flowers, tress, fields, the scent of evening fields are mentioned, but there's got to be a good handful of those for your list.
perhaps more than 10?
Cheers,
Lynn What an interesting question, but I can't think of any right now. I have heard some performances that smelled, but that's a whole different area!! :-) .
Musician, composer, teacher. I have heard of avant garde classical experiments that involved the audience having various media to smell at specific times as they are watching the performance (maybe like a scratch n sniff kind of thing?) but I'm not sure of the specific composers and pieces where this has occured...I just remember hearing about it. Interesting, the only one that comes into my mind now is Mahler, Ich atmet鈥?einen linden Duft from R眉ckert Lieder.
Doesn't Siegfried mention the smell when he is in the forest in Act II of Siegfried? I'm not sure about this. Allthough I believe that he, or Mime mention the smell of the Dragon's breath.
A little sidekick, not that you asked it, is the use of color with which Skriabin experimented.
There whas a piece by a Japanese composer that used realtime aroma's together with music. I heard it a few years ago, bun't don't have the slightest clue about the composers, or the composition's name. In "In a Chinese Temple Garden" by Albert W. Ketelby, ms. 21 is marked "The perfume of incense floats on the air." |
