Arcana (Varèse)
Arcana is a symphonic poem for large orchestra by French composer Edgard Varèse. It was composed between 1925 and 1927, with a later revision in 1931–32. Background As stated in letters to his wife, Louise Varèse, in New York, Varèse first conceived a few motifs that would later be used in Arcana in a dream on 9 October 1925, while on a visit to Île Saint-Louis. He originally intended for it to be ready for early 1926, as Leopold Stokowski was ready to include it in a program at Carnegie Hall. However, the complicated musical language used in Arcana forced him to postpone its premiere, until Stokowski conducted it with the Philadelphia Orchestra on 8 April 1927 at the Academy of Music (Philadelphia). As explained in his letter, the title 'arcana' refers to the mysteries of alchemy and a quote from Paracelsus's Hermetic Astronomy. Varèse explored the realm of dreams with the musical language present in Arcana, since he believed that the birth of art came from the unconscious and not from reason. The score is preceded by the following text, in Latin, English, and French: The 1927 score was published by Max Eschig in 1931. On the occasion of