Word: somnambulist
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...many years ago. This man was the real Mr. Arcularis, of whom Aiken says, "there was something pathetically indrawn and remote about him; he talked little to me or to anyone else... and almost from the outset I thought of him as some how having the air of a somnambulist, a sleepwalker." From the suggestion offered by this contact with a real person has grown, during the intervening years, a character who walks among the living in a spiritual sleep, passes through redemption in a dream voyage, and into physical death before the eyes of the audience...
...Cabinet of Dr. Caligari describes a mountebank monk's visit to a small German town. Apparently Dr. Caligari wishes to exhibit his somnambulist at the town's fair. But a series of unexplained murders follows their arrival. At last Dr. Caligari is caught and led off in a strait-jacket. This story, however, is told by a young man in an institution. When the director of the institution walks among his patients after the story, he himself appears to be Dr. Caligari. Recognizing him, the patient screams, "You are Dr. Caligari!" and he too is led off in a strait...
...Whims of Cupid was already over and the second presentation Somnambulist was in process. The dancers who swept before the footlights with such grace plunged towards us with great sighs, wiping their brows as they came...
Jazzman Sidney Bechet soloes in his own Ballet, which has been a success in France. The story concerns a somnambulist who kills his family while he is asleep, only to be led to his own death by a slave. The music at first alternates between late romantic and jazz styles, then combines the two. The jazz is excellent, while the classical sections are rather dramatic. When combined, Bechet has an interesting musical admixture that fits the weird story...