The year is 1752 and Jean-JAcques Rousseau is composing a new scene in a small one act opera. He has called it Le Devin du village or The Village Soothsayer.
According to Bing
A soothsayer is someone who claims to be able to predict the future by using various methods, such as magic, intuition, or rational analysis. The word comes from the Old English word sooth, which means truth or reality. Soothsayers were often consulted by people who wanted to know what fate had in store for them, or how to make important decisions. Some famous examples of soothsayers in history and literature are:
- The Oracle of Delphi: a priestess who gave cryptic prophecies at the ancient Greek temple of Apollo¹.
- Nostradamus: a 16th-century French astrologer and physician who wrote a book of quatrains that many believe foretold future events².
- The witches in Macbeth: three mysterious women who tell Macbeth and Banquo their destinies, but also deceive them with ambiguous words³.
Soothsayers are not always reliable or trustworthy, and sometimes they can be wrong or misleading. There is no scientific evidence that anyone can accurately foresee the future, and many people consider soothsaying to be a form of superstition or fraud. However, some people still believe in the power of soothsayers, and seek their advice or guidance for personal or professional matters.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 30/09/2023
(1) https://bing.com/search?q=what+is+a+soothsayer
(2) SOOTHSAYER | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/soothsayer
(3) Soothsayer Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soothsayer
(4) SOOTHSAYER | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/soothsayer
(5) http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/
It can be located in scene 8 called Pantomime. Approximately 30:30
You can read more about the song and its incarnations on this link https://www.mamalisa.com/blog/the-history-of-the-tune-go-tell-aunt-rhody-around-the-world/ and see the original scores on https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_devin_du_village_(Rousseau,_Jean-Jacques)
This is a performance piece. When you perform a piece on the piano it is good to tell the audience a little about the piece before you play it.
Here is an example
Stand near the piano and say
"Go Tell Aunt Rhody" is an English language folk song of nineteenth-century American origin. The tune is older, dating to the 18th century.
It originated as a dance called a Gavotte in the 1752 opera Le Devin du Village by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Thank you for listening."
If you are completing this piece for an assessment rosette remember to introduce yourself and state the rosette the video is for.
Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB08gwA8oYc&t=1185s
https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_devin_du_village_(Rousseau,_Jean-Jacques)
https://www.mamalisa.com/blog/the-history-of-the-tune-go-tell-aunt-rhody-around-the-world/
https://imslp.org/wiki/Le_devin_du_village_(Rousseau,_Jean-Jacques)