The Story of the Medusa

The Raft of the Medusa measures approximately 16' x 23' and was painted by Théodore Géricault between 1818 and 1819. The painting lives at the Louvre in Paris, France.

The story of the Medusa is a tragic one, of vanity and incompetence, which leads to despair, violence and cannibalism. The Medusa was a French frigate carrying 400 men, women and children, that ran into trouble four miles from the coast of Senegal. The ‘high born’ passengers took to the lifeboats whilst the crew, the soldiers and the slaves were made to board a makeshift raft and sail it to shore. 150 men boarded the raft, which left them standing waist deep in water, 3 square feet per man, with little in the way of food and fresh water. The nights were consumed by violence between factions that emerged on the raft. In order to survive, some of the men began to eat and drink the blood of those that died. After 13 days adrift at sea, of the 150 sailors, marines and slaves, only 15 survivors were rescued.

Compositional Notes

The Raft of the Medusa composition has been divided into three movements each depicting a stage in the tragic tale.

1 st Movement: The introduction depicts the ship in heavy seas during a storm. Huge waves crash over the bow as the crew work hard to keep the rolling ship under control. At this point the crew are all working coherently in an attempt to maintain control of the ship against the raging storm. The main body of the movement has a structured nature to symbolise the crew desperately working together against impossible odds to save the Medusa as she founders in stormy seas. As the movement draws to a close, the crew realises that the Medusa is lost. They lower the lifeboats into the raging sea for the women, children, aristocrats and the captain and then begin cutting away the main deck to create a raft. The storm and the sea lash against the crew as they work in desperation. Finally the raft is hauled over the side and crashes into the sea [the closing 'power chords'].

2 nd Movement: This depicts the initial calm, disorientation and despair aboard the raft. The storm is moving off into the distance, the sea is calm and the whales sing hauntingly in the early light of dawn. Throughout the day, the mood is fearful and mistrustful but calm as these unfortunate souls come to terms with their situation and try to determine a way to get to safety. As night falls, the levels of fear and mistrust increase to the point where violence erupts between the factions.

With the coming dawn, everything calms down but there is an underlying tension.

And once again, with the setting sun, the fear in the darkness once more erupts into violence.

3 rd Movement: This depicts the complete breakdown of order as chaos and violence becomes the norm on the raft. The violence is now no longer restricted to the night and can flare up at any time. The mood is of menace, anger, rage, violence and fear.

The solo guitar screams in agony as men are brutally clubbed to death and hacked apart.

Some of the bodies of those that fall to the conflict are butchered and eaten in a desperate fight for survival.

Finale: Eventually, the chaos subsides as the survivors no longer have the strength or will to continue the fighting and all that remains are the sounds of a distant storm and the spirits of the dead singing in harmony with the whale song.