The Scarlet Pimpernel (Part 1 of 3)

***This entire three part album is dedicated to my  late Mother and Father (June and Harry) who give me a wonderful childhood (even thought they told me they thought they hadn't) who started me on my way in life with always plenty of good books, good movies and good music surrounding me. No child could ask for more than this.***


(Lots to read, this time.)


Based on the classic novel based on the play of the French Revolution of 1792 and The Terror that followed  1793-1794 as a background (first published amazingly enough in London, 1905, as 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', written by  Baroness Emma Orczy.)

The only movie version worth seeing is from 1934  with Leslie  Howard--no one else has ever held a candle to his performance as a member of the British aristocracy 'Sir Percy Blakeney' (perfect) as a gentleman of all flash and no substance or to  the performance of Raymond Massey as the French Ambassador 'Citizen Chauvelin'  (a perfect screen villain.)

The most amazing thing about the 1934 movie version of the book is that it is almost entirely bereft of a musical score.

The 1934  movie has no music, no computer generated special effects, it's in black and white (not colour--don't you dare watch a colourized version) and yet it's considered one of the greatest movies ever made. Why? Easily answered, it actually has a story instead of one after the other fight scenes and it has gripping acting from real actors who take their roles seriously.  (Just watch Leslie Howard as Sir Percy in a moment of absolute quiet--he's not a blank canvas, you can actually see him 'thinking'--he's still acting with the slightest of movements to his body and face, he's become Sir Percy.) These old movies work because the actors worked at their craft--not at stardom.  (Yes, I watch old movies.) This is the best movie ever made about the Scarlet Pimpernel. Period.

You are about to hear my  version, my interpretation of this classic of literature (and movies) but first: If you haven't read it or seen the movie you might want to do so--you won't be sorry. Since the book and the 1934 movie version are in the Public Domain as stated by the copyright laws of North America where I live (which is why I can write this story and do this music about The Scarlet Pimpernel.) If you want to watch it before listening to MY VERSION--this is your last chance.

*** It's one of my favourite books and one of my favourite movies. What it stands for--I stand for. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this 3 part album. (NOTE: I had to buy two new CD sets of loops simply because they were perfect for this story--and I'm not making any money from any of these albums and not expecting to. But if I was going to do it--it had to be done right.) I hope it shows in the pieces because this story deserves respect--for me it was truly a work of love.***

(And, NO, I didn't see the movie when it first came out in the theatres in 1934, thank you very much.)

Please think of my work as part of a new version of the movie or as a new stage musical production if you want to get in the right mood: The house lights are going down and the curtain is about to go up on 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'.  Hurry, please--take your seats, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...


*SPOILERS from here on!*


The first track, 01 on this album, is the complete part one, and the next five are the tracks divided up into chapters.

Track number 2 is the one that I stated some time back that I did 24 variations of until I was satisfied that it sounded the way and gave the impression that I wanted. It's the first track, it must set the tone for the entire three part album...

02 No More Pain (The Terror Begins)--and thus it is...the common people were equal to the higher classes and  wanted to be treated equally. They finally got their wish in June, 1793, when aristocrat and  commoner, all were suddenly treated as equals. And all met the same fate from those who, like  Citizen Maximilien Robespierre--with the aid of the extremely efficient Madame Guillotine closely by his side--would control the revolution together--and the people.

This piece is seen through the eyes of one man. "Is it raining or are those my tears..." he thinks while looking at an old man in the crowd slowly pulling a bow across a fiddle.

(Note: Consciousness remains within the brain cells of a head that has been severed from the  body for several seconds--until the oxygen runs out...or the music ends.)


03 March Of The People--nothing can stand in the way of the people once they've had enough of having nothing. Once started it can't be stopped.

(Note the strings, how I've cut the loops shorter on each successive pass.)


04 Blissful Ignorance--aristocrats living apart in blissful ignorance from commoners. Listen, now,  as attendants, counts, countesses and King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette float on an artificial lake filled with swimming swans and surrounded by stately gardens. Craft decked out in opulent splendour, filled to overflowing with exotic foods and untold riches that the peasantry couldn't even afford in their  dreams...listen as they eat cake...

(NOTE: I decided to use guitars here--mainly because I find them the most blissful--and I couldn't find any lute loops.)


05 Sink Me, It's Sir Percy--in Britain a certain gentleman struts about the halls of the rich and the famous, he's a fop (a  foolish man overly-concerned with his appearance) more interested in his own clothes than his own wife Marguerite. Why it's none other than Sir Percy  Blakeney, Baronet, strutting down the halls like a peacock.

(I wanted to convey a sense with this piece of a man who could never be a hero. Even his own  wife would laugh at the thought. There are several spots in this piece where the music stops dead because here we have a man with hardly any thought processes at all--and when he does have one it's trivial and he loses it almost immediately.)


06 Marguerite (I Still Need His Love)--she is the beautiful wife of Sir Percy Blakeney. He's English and she's the  former French actress Marguerite St. Just. Her life should be a happy one but her husband  treats her as if she's not there--there's an impenetrable wall between them. Something within him has changed since their marriage but she loves him still--and she still needs his love.


next Wednesday
Part 2