actually put me in mind of this touching bit of apocrypha, and that out-of-France journey's more recent evocation here.
No singing, however, was involved in either instance.
(Mind you, my rather more successful blogdaughter seems to have had rather a different reaction.)
Speaking as your Blogdaughter (oh, what a delicious term!), all I can say is, wow, you came up with two amazing links, JSU, to add a different spice to this media-darling story.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favourite quote in the first:
"By all means, I do believe that this man's spirit is disturbed," my father said to my aunt, "but this disturbed spirit is noble and, by nature, great and profound."
That's what I would wish is the case with this Piano Man, now uncovered as a would-be suicide.
But, as you point out, I didn't get that feeling at the end.
To me, he's no Kaspar Hauser, some forlorn creature tucked away out-of-sight. (Wasn't Hauser allegedly later musical too?)
He's just an attention-seeker whose spirit will wander far and wide, because his Weltschmerz follows him everywhere.
Actually, come to think of it, he's also a bit like the Empress Elisabeth of Austria...another famous Bavarian who was too cowed by life to go ahead and commit suicide, unlike her son.
I really like the story of Piano Man, though. As you can see, he's a bit of a throwback to other times.
Cheers,
Victoria
My first comment spammer -- hey, I'm moving up in the world.
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