Unidentified photographer / artist
1893, June
A cacophonous experience, Finland

Gelatin printing-out paper
4.7 x 6.6 in (120 x 169 mm)
 
Paul Frecker
Paul Frecker provides the following comments:
 
"A charming, anecdotal photograph with an even more charming inscription, showing what can only have been a cacophonous musical experience, which took place in Finland one June day in 1893."
 
Inked inscriptions recto in a period hand read A moving ditty / Finland, June 1893 and in the opposite corner and a still more moving singer. Another longer inscription in the same hand on the reverse of the print reads;
 
Will no one tell me what she sings!
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things
And battles long ago;
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss or pain
That has been and may be again!

 
(Mons. Doriac and Uncle Alick sotto voce)
 
"Whate'er the theme, the maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending."
 
LL/12062