les Nornes

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani discusses the three Norns in connection with the prologue of Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), where they stand before a rock1. He presents them as a Germanic counterpart of the Parcae: they spin the rope of destinies, and the breaking of this rope brings eternal wisdom to an end2. In the November 2020 session on the benefits and harms of amnesia, he returns several times to this scene, which serves as the opening sequence: the threads become tangled, then the rope breaks3. He dwells on how troubled their gaze is, which he links to the troubled times we live in4. He also points out the sinister "face" they glimpse. According to him, translations avoid this word, which foreshadows the horror to come5. In May 2021, he mentions them again, more briefly, at the start of a session on the shift from modal to tonal music.

1. 1De la voix perdue à la voie de la modernité • De la musique modale à la musique tonale • D Pagani23 May 2021 · 2:24
2. 2#3 Bien-et Mé-faits de l'amnésie...6 Nov 2020 · 18:10
3. 3#3 Bien-et Mé-faits de l'amnésie...6 Nov 2020 · 5:24
4. 4#3 Bien-et Mé-faits de l'amnésie...6 Nov 2020 · 25:55
5. 5#3 Bien-et Mé-faits de l'amnésie...6 Nov 2020 · 37:02

Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.