This may seem a very unmusical subject for this week`s theme, but wait, for this is Fingal`s Cave. And that is not just a sea cave on the Island of Staffa, Scotland, but a concert overture by Felix Mendelssohn, written between 1830 and 1832, and published to great acclaim the year after. Most of all it is a piece of music which is usually performed on the last night of the Proms.
The music was inspired by a visit that Mendelssohn made to Scotland, and to Fingal`s Cave, in 1829. He loved it there, the grandeur, and the crashing of the waves. It is said that he had composed most of it before he left Scotland, so eager was he to immortalise his feelings. At first, he called it "Zur einsamen Insel", or "To The Lonely Island" - which begs the question as to whether this was meant as a depiction of his trip, going to the island, or as a tribute, a poem written to the Island with fond remembrance.
As for the title though, the music was not intended to be called Fingal`s Cave at all. For that name, we must blame a German publisher, who produced a slightly later edition of the music and titled it "Fingalshohle" or "Fingal`s Cave". Though, actually, Mendelssohn did use that title on the musical score, so it may have just been a bit of a misunderstanding.
The actual Fingal's Cave is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, and is part of a nature reserve. It is formed from hexagonal basalt columns and is similar to the Giant`s Causeway.
You can see it on other cards, including card 4 of Cohen, Weenen & Co`s "Wonders of the World" (1923 - gold border, and grey border), where it tells us that "Hundreds of tourists visit this wonderful cave annually, access being from the sea at low tide by boat".
It is also on card 37 of R. J. Lea`s "Wonders of the World (1938), where we are told that "This famous basaltic grotto was discovered by Sir Joseph Banks in the seventeenth century. It is situated on the island of Staffa in the Hebrides and is 230 feet long. Famous for its stalactites the rush of wind through the cave produces a weird musical sound".
And, whilst on the subject of stalagmites, you will also reportedly find it on card 39 of the second series of W.D. & H.O. Wills "Do You Know", though it is not named as Fingal`s Cave, it simply titles the card "Stalactites and Stalagmites". But everyone I have spoken to is certain that this is inside Fingal`s Cave, so it deserves a mention. And more investigation. Given time.
As for why it is called Fingal`s Cave, we can blame the Scottish poet James Macpherson, who created this grandiose legend about a King who lived in a castle that fell through the rock into the sea, and that the columns were all that was left of its construction. I expect that appealed to Mendelssohn too.
To our set, this is part of group 33, which covers series 491 to 495, and this set is the last of those series, 495. The card also tells us that these fit in Album 17. The title "Verschiedene Hohlenformen" actually means "different cave formations" , and it is a very atmospheric set. Oddly, as I translated them, two turned out to be actual caves, so I will have to find out if the others are of actual places too. Ours may actually be Fingal`s Cave.
Anyway the cards in the set, as I now know them, are :
- Die Adelsberger Grotte [an actual cave not a formation - Postojna Cave, Slovenia]
- Krystallhohle [crystal cave]
- Cova des Coloms [an actual cave not a formation - in Mallorca. Spain]
- Eishohle [ice cave]
- Gewolbehohle [vaulted cave]
- Basalthohle [basalt cave]