1. Robert Wyatt - The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
Percussion – Richard Bernas (1976)
2. Cathy Berberian – The Wonderful Widow Of Eighteen Springs 2:06
3. Joan La Barbara – The Wonderful Widow Of Eighteen Springs 2:41 (1993)
Piano [Closed] – William Winant
4. Joey Ramone – The Wonderful Widow Of Eighteen Springs 2:21 (1993)
lyrics:
>night by silent sailing night,
Isobel,
wildwoods eyes and primarose hair,
quietly,
all the woods so wild
in mauves of moss and dahne dews
how all so still she lay
‘neath of the white thorn,
child of tree
like some lost happy leaf
like blowing flower stilled
as fain would she anon
for soon again ‘twill be,
win me, woo me, wed me,
ah! weary me
deeply,
now even calm lay sleeping
night,
Isobel,
Sister Isobel,
Saintette Isobel,
Madame Isa Veuve La Belle.
The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs is a song for voice and closed piano by John Cage. It was composed in late 1942 and quickly became a minor classic in Cage’s oeuvre. The text was a reworked version of a passage from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.
The song was commissioned by singer Janet Fairbank, who later became known for pioneering contemporary music. Cage chose to set a passage from page 556 of Finnegans Wake, a book he bought soon after its publication in 1939. The composition is based, according to Cage himself, on the impressions received from the passage. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs marks the start of Cage’s interest in Joyce and is the first piece among many in which he uses the writer’s work.
The vocal line only uses three pitches, while the piano remains closed and the pianist produces sounds by hitting the lid or other parts of the instrument in a variety of ways (with his fingers, with his knuckles, etc.). Almost immediately after its composition the song became one of Cage’s most frequently performed works, and was several times performed by the celebrated duo of Cathy Berberian and Luciano Berio. Cage later composed another piece for voice and closed piano, A Flower, and a companion piece to The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs, called Nowth upon Nacht, also based on Joyce’s book.
In 1976, Robert Wyatt performed a version on the split LP Voices and Instruments attributed to Jan Steele and John Cage, produced by Brian Eno and released on his Obscure Records label. In 1993, Joey Ramone performed a version on the compilation Caged/Uncaged – A Rock / Experimental Homage To John Cage.
Contributo di
Juan Pablo Macías