| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: he enquired their meaning and translated them. His manuscript was left
with my grandfather Dropides, and is now in my possession...In the division
of the earth Poseidon obtained as his portion the island of Atlantis, and
there he begat children whose mother was a mortal. Towards the sea and in
the centre of the island there was a very fair and fertile plain, and near
the centre, about fifty stadia from the plain, there was a low mountain in
which dwelt a man named Evenor and his wife Leucippe, and their daughter
Cleito, of whom Poseidon became enamoured. He to secure his love enclosed
the mountain with rings or zones varying in size, two of land and three of
sea, which his divine power readily enabled him to excavate and fashion,
and, as there was no shipping in those days, no man could get into the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: walls seemed to start on me, and glaring eyes to meet me at every
turn. Entering a long gallery, a dismal shriek made me spring out
of my conductor's arms, with I know not what mysterious emotion of
terror; but I fell on the floor, unable to sustain myself.
"A strange-looking female started out of one of the recesses,
and observed me with more curiosity than interest; till, sternly
bid retire, she flitted back like a shadow. Other faces, strongly
marked, or distorted, peeped through the half-opened doors, and I
heard some incoherent sounds. I had no distinct idea where I could
be--I looked on all sides, and almost doubted whether I was alive
or dead.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: that on such occasions his heart is altogether healthy and his
sensations perfectly normal Here Mimmy's question is accompanied
by the tremulous sounding of the fire theme with its harmonies
most oppressively disturbed and troubled; whereas with
Siegfried's reply they become quite clear and straightforward,
making the theme sound bold, brilliant, and serene. This is a
typical instance of the way in which the themes are used.
The thematic system gives symphonic interest, reasonableness, and
unity to the music, enabling the composer to exhaust every aspect
and quality of his melodic material, and, in Beethoven's manner,
to work miracles of beauty, expression and significance with the
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: which the dogs had hated could cause an equal antipathy in these
penguins, since their ancestors had obviously lived on excellent
terms with the Old Ones - an amicable relationship which must
have survived in the abyss below as long as any of the Old Ones
remained. Regretting - in a flare-up of the old spirit of pure
science - that we could not photograph these anomalous creatures,
we shortly left them to their squawking and pushed on toward the
abyss whose openness was now so positively proved to us, and whose
exact direction occasional penguin tracks made clear.
Not long
afterward a steep descent in a long, low, doorless, and peculiarly
At the Mountains of Madness |
