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AMY BEACH. EXTASE, OP.21, NO.2

A beautiful and rarely performed art song “Extase” by American composer Amy Beach is written on a famous poem of the same name by Victor Hugo, where he describes his amazing spiritual experience. The song comes from a cycle Beach wrote on Hugo’s poems, and Asiya came across it, performing it with her singer friend at the University of Miami. The transcription was written in 2017.

 

Here is an English translation of it:

 

I was alone beside the sea, one starry night.

With not a single wave or sail in sight.

Past the world's limits, stretched my eye,

And the forests and the mountains, with nature all 'round

Seemed united in questioning, in a vast yet mumbled sound,

The billows of the ocean, and the splendour of the sky.

 

And the infinite legions of golden stars,

Had voices loud and harmonies over a thousand bars.

They replied, tipping low their radiant crowns of fame

And the blue waters, which none could govern or arrest,

Replied, tipping low the foam upon their crest

'The Lord, our great Creator! His glory we proclaim!'

© 2017-2024 Asiya Korepanova. All rights reserved.

Photography: © Emil Matveev

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