This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog -- in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy
7 Comments
Jennifer Brewer
3/24/2020 01:02:35 pm
So far from my reading we have only seen Father Mapple once, and I doubt he will come back again since the rest of the book is on a ship. However, there were pages describing Father Mapple and how he used to be a sailor in his youth but became a priest later in life. His sailing experience can be seen from the way the chapel was decorated and described, utilizing terms such as "stern," "starboard," etc. I believe the piece paints a very dark imagery that is not meant to represent Father Mapple fully. I believe Father Mapple is supposed to represent Ishmael's future and what he will experience in the coming chapters. The entire chapter as well as this piece is a foreshadowing of the book's events. This sermon is straight from the book. The book, I believe, is an allegory for spirituality (mostly Christianity). The chapter was an entire service, telling the story of Jonah attempting to escape the wrath of God but being eaten by a whale in the process. I believe this sermon and service represent the comings of the book and foreshadow the allegory which will be told. During this point in the book, there are storms brewing outside the chapel, telling of a rocky future to come for Ishmael. I believe we should capture this in the tone we set for this movement. This movement was wrote for singing because this part of the book is held in a chapel. The sermon should be revered and held to high esteem. Therefore, the movement is sung to bring attention to it by the listeners and give a Holy feeling to it. Similar to Church choirs, the piece holds an omnipotent feeling to it that must be held to high importance.
Daniela Velazquez
3/24/2020 02:25:55 pm
This movement is a great representation of Father Maple because we know him to be a really religious man who used to sail. I think it’s smart that McBeth made this movement a singing movement because Father Maple is tied to the church and back then church music was mostly sung. It also feels that this song is reflective of Father Maple’s character and his journey reaching god. It sends a message of spirituality and salvation through god. The music itself is reflective of this since the beginning is dense and suspenseful but comes to a resolution at measure 20 on the fermata that is coincidentally being held on the word Him. The bells in the beginning kind of mimic church bells and the held whole notes mimic a church organ.
Abigail Barajas
3/24/2020 07:13:22 pm
Movement 3 represents Father Maple firstly by showing his religious side since he is a priest for the New Bedford Whaleman's Chapel. The song shows how he looks to God for answers. The song shows how while he faced terrible times he looked to God and always believed in him. The lyric to the songs was written by Herman Melville the Author of Moby Dick which is most likely why McBeth decided to have movement 3 be sung since he wanted what Melville wrote in the song.
Sebastian Valerio
3/24/2020 07:21:56 pm
I think the composer wrote the 3rd movement as singing to represent the church setting. The use of singing is reminiscent of a church choir and helps convey Father Mapple's religious background.
Christian Madera
3/25/2020 02:11:59 am
Movement 3 represents father maple as it shows his remorse for the lost sailors of the pequod as he is also an old sailor who tells stories of whales in his sermons. He thus can empathize with the voyage and actually uses it as a teaching moment to communicate the main theme of the book which is to obey god not oneself and your own selfishness which is message connecting directly to ahab who could not escape his vengeance for the whale. This is seen through the hymn sung in movement three which is "the ribs and terrors" which from what i understand is sung at a church sermon at the end of the book after the pequod voyage. This is the moral of the story as the words were a moral of the book but also in a way a message to ahab who's hatred drove him to search out moby dick and eventually got him killed as opposed to the character of jonah from his sermon who turns on god and is (again from what i found) swallowed by a whale but preys to god and ends up alive which is told through the hymn. These words combined with the eerie and remorseful melody show the disappointment father mapple has for the pequod crew which is why i believe the composer decided to make this movement a singing movement. The emotion and message of the words cannot be communicated in the same way through music alone.
Elizabeth Morales
3/25/2020 02:40:40 pm
I think Movement 3 represents Father Mapple because he was a former whaleman and uses the Bible to demonstrate the life of one. I think the reason the composer wrote Movement 3 was so it would represent Father Mapple more. Since he is tied to God and church and church uses more vocal rather than instrumental it represents Father Mapple better. Leave a Reply. |
Of Sailors and Whales BLOG PROJECTEach Movement of Of Sailors and Whales is a musical description of one of the main characters in the book Moby Dick. What I would like us to do is to learn about each character and then try to make connections between what we know about the character and what the composer, Francis McBeth, wrote in the piece. ArchivesCategories |
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