What does water sound like?

“Water” is a big word with many meanings. It encompasses everything from a single molecule to vast oceans. We quench our thirst with it, clean ourselves with it (physically and spiritually), cry it when we are overjoyed or sad. If we have too little water, we die of thirst; too much, we drown. Civilization sprung up around sources of water, and was (still is?) the primary method of travel and trade. I could go on and on …

It’s no wonder that composers have put their sweat (water again) into creating music that somehow captures water. Rather than blab on and on, I’ll let the music speak for itself.

This post is a longer listen, so be prepared to sit a while, or feel free to go through in multiple sittings, whatever suits you.

La Mer (The Sea) – Claude Debussy: This impressionist work gives you a sense of rolling waves in an dark, infinite ocean through its gentle rhythms, rich orchestral colors, and expansive harmony.

Overture to Das Rheingold – Richard Wagner: The first notes of Wagner’s magnum opus transports the listener from a chair in an opera house to the bottom of Germany’s most famous river, the Rhine. Unlike many other opera overtures, there’s not much to it – just 4 minutes of Eb major, slowly unfolding; a musical equivalent to the slow rising of a curtain in a theater.

A Sea Symphony – Ralph Vaughan Williams: Longest. Symphony. Ever. And also, RVW’s first symphony, written at the same time as Debussy’s La Mer, and as quintessentially English as La Mer is quintessentially French.

Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes – Benjamin Britten: For Britten, the sea was always a part of his life, having been born, raised, lived, and died in a seaside town. In his operas, the ocean is practically a character unto itself. The Imperial Royal Navy heard in Vaughan-Williams is no longer present – instead, we get an ominous, expansive agent of life and death.

(Another) Sea Symphony – Howard Hanson: Across the pond, us Yankees have crafted our own Sea Symphony with chorus; but unlike Vaughan-Williams endless composition, this one is much shorter, and musically is closer to Britten.

 Obviously this list is far from complete. Any suggestions? (and no, Handel’s Water Music doesn’t count!)

There’s something magical about the big water. A trip to the sea refreshes us, helps us to forget, makes us think about bigger things. I myself have just arrived at the ocean for a week of trying to remember (or figure out?) who I am.

Not surprisingly, the sea has been an inspiration to countless composers. If I were to write a post about every water-themed piece, I would need to spend more than a month at the seaside, and sadly I’m not given that much vacation time.

I stumbled on today’s piece indirectly through my studies on Benjamin Britten (who, incidentally, wrote a TON of sea-themed music.)  Britten was a wee lad of thirteen when he heard Frank Bridge‘s composition, The Sea, and was completely blown away by it – so much so, that Britten sought Bridge out as a composition teacher, thus starting a lifelong, loving relationship of student and mentor. Bridge was considered one of England’s leading composers during his lifetime, but has since fallen into a bit of obscurity; this just means that his music is due for a revival! The Sea was written a few years after Debussy wrote La Mer (the English and the French are always trying to one-up each other.) La Mer is better-known, perhaps, since Bridge’s take on the ocean is much more musically conservative. Even so, it’s a lovely piece, and I’m glad to have found it, even if through the back door.