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JOYANCE EVERYWHERE – (text excerpted from “The Eolian Harp”) Coleridge began writing his poem, “The Eolian Harp” after a visit to a house in Clevendon which would eventually become the home for he and his bride Sara Fricker.   The poem begins with the idealized life the poet envisioned with Sara but expanded into commentary on love, the poet’s pantheistic feelings about nature, his interest in understanding the universe, and a desire to experience the divine through the music of the Aeolian (Eolian) harp.

The poem also portrays a series of oppositional ideas and how they can be reconciled with each other.  While not really opposites, I took my cue from this idea in deciding on a harmonic language – a not unfamiliar language which uses mostly somewhat unrelated triads simultaneously… especially in the piano part. (i.e A major/ E major; D major / G major).  In other words, I chose triads that are oppositional yet musically quite reconcilable.

These stacked triads are often an interval of a fifth apart – an interval which is fundamental to the principles of tonal music and also coincidentally, fundamental to the music of the Aeolian harp – which is said to be played only by the wind and plays only harmonic frequencies (overtones).

Coleridge’s “Eolian Harp) has been described as “one of his happiest poems… for once Coleridge and his environment blended into a single, harmonious idyllic mood,”  Furthermore lauded as “demonstrating beautiful detail  combined with a sharp ear for rhythms both conversational and yet heightened into poetic form.”

This poem was practically begging to be set to music.