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Mendelssohn Makes Me Cry
How “Fingal’s Cave” still makes me weep…every time
Decades ago, in another incarnation, I caught a piece of classical music on tape one night while listening to college radio. It sounded so familiar, but I had no idea what it was (later I discovered the signature phrase is used in an old Warner Brothers’ cartoon, “The Minah Bird”).
All I knew was that it did things to me.
When I hear people say that they “love” music, to me that’s like saying that they love breathing or eating. I lose myself in music. I need it when I write. When I draw or paint, I can’t pick up a pen or a paintbrush without first choosing the music. But this piece was different. I learned that I had to be careful where I listened to it after weeping openly on a bus one day. And not just lady-like tears sliding down my face; raw, hiccuping sobs. A little embarrassing, yes.
Eventually, I discovered that the piece was “Fingal’s Cave”, also known as the “Hebrides Overture”, which Felix Mendelssohn wrote in 1830 after visiting the Scottish island of Staffa. In this piece he has certainly captured the cresting power of the wild and stormy North Atlantic. Excited, I went right out and bought the first copy of the symphony I could find in the bargain bin at Sam Goody’s, a rendition by the Lithuanian…
