Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

If it is raining the yard of The House by Stone Bell / Dum u kamenného zvonu resonates with raindrops falling on the tin plates and stone pavement. The sound collage connects this acoustic ambient with archival recording, exhibited on the exhibition about Devětsil above. The Voiceband of E.F. Burian interprets Vitěslav Nezval translation of E.A. Poea poem Bells:

Hear the loud alarum bells -
Brazen bells!
What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now—now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!