Le Rêve de la Fille aux Cheveux de Lin
I listened to music last night as I slept, which is something I always used to do long ago. But, having not done it in so long, and no longer certain I could easily sleep through music, I had to choose my selections carefully. You can pick a rock CD from your collection, set the volume on your stereo during the first song, and trust that the rest of the disc will be of equal volume. But unlike most popular genres, classical music has a very wide dynamic range, with crashingly loud passages following ones that are nearly silent. So, rather than listen to solo harpsichord, I opted for music which, even with a wide dynamic range, isn’t chaotic.
Claude Debussy wrote his first book of Préludes in 1910, and among the twelve short pieces is one which is the most popular for good reason: you do not forget “La fille aux cheveux de lin”.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I kept hearing this melody in my sleep, and it affected my dreams. If you never listen to my sound clips, I encourage you to hear this 30-second excerpt.
Leave a Reply