Reis Glorios, Guiraut de Bornelh // Feast of the Redeemer, Maurice Prendergast

Robert Willard, Slavic Studies and Economics, CC’20

For some reason, I always find something meaningful in the works of Maurice Prendergast, a relatively obscure American post-Impressionist.

Reis Glorios is an alba, a dawn song; the music aptly transmits a feeling of warm, slowly breaking light. The version we listened to slowly layers in a rather modern-sounding polyphonic harmony which serves to augment this effect of dawn. The harmony brings out each instrument as a distinct line, as do the voices use differing techniques. Other versions of the song, which are less modernistic, still make use of such a layered quality that slowly evolves over each strophe.

Prendergast’s painting has a reminiscient warm light of dawn, that carries some secrecy and intimacy, reflected in the romantic quality of the song. As the music divides is divided between independent strophes, polyphonic lines and themes, the painting splits this warm light between distinct tones of color that combine into a cohesive whole.