Forever, My Love

The famous, final piece of music composed by Viera D’Arras. Viera finished composing Forever, My Love shortly before her untimely death in 613 AL. Though the exact date upon which the piece was finished is unknown, most scholars and music connoisseurs agree that it was completed during the month of the Hunters Moon. This is corroborated by a number of letters written by Viera and her partner towards the end of the Hunters Moon in 613 AL, each of which have been preserved by the Moonglow Archivists.

Viera was scheduled to play the piece later that year at the Festival of Snowfall in Rennarsie.

History

To honour her untimely death at the hands of an assassin, the sheet music was locked away in a vault underneath Castle Dune. Rennarsie’s reigning monarch at the time was a huge supporter of Viera’s work and sought to preserve her final piece. Though many musicians begged for the chance to play the piece, the monarch refused. When the people rioted against their monarch just 4 years later, the sheet music was lost.

Over time there were many sightings. Most of these were unconfirmed, though that didn’t stop any and every musician from trying to claim that they had memorised the piece, or that they had played it. It is extremely likely that all of these are false, though scholars note that there may be some truth to a couple of the claims - particularly the claim made by the Vost twins in 856 AL.

Eventually, the sheet music was found in the home of a separatist living in the quaint mountainside village of Rockbridge in Yondar. The separatist was involved in an attempt on the Queen of Yondar’s life 988 AL. After the attack, his home was ransacked. The guards were looking to find evidence in an effort to incriminate any other separatists in the area. Instead they found the long lost sheet music of Forever, My Love hidden in a locked chest.

“Viera?” a voice asks. Soft. A distant whisper.

“Yes, my love?” Viera replies, turning towards the doorway. There, a figure stands, barely lit by the candlelight flickering on Viera’s desk. The figure smiles and steps forward, but still Viera struggles to make out any distinctive features.

“Oh Viera,” the voice says, changing. Tone harsher. Flat. Deep.

Viera gasps in surprise as the figure itself shifts, becoming taller. In an instant an arm flashes out. Silver glints in the candlelight. Scarlet flashes across the wall, the floor, the edges of the desk. Viera’s gasp blossoms into a gurgle.

The shadow leaves, grinning. Viera falls to her knees. Forever, she thinks, holding her hand to her neck as another figure appears in the doorway.

Familiar. Warm.

Together… For…

The guards brought the piece to Queen Raelle. As a connoisseur of music, she recognised the piece to be written in the same style frequently used by Viera. She confirmed this with a few fellow musicians, both inside and outside of her court, before finally deducing that the sheet music she had in her possession was none other than Forever, My Love.

Queen Raelle chose to display the sheet music in an area of Castle Tirav open to the public, although it would remain locked within a glass case out of fear that the already weathered pages would not survive constant handling by the public. The only instances where it was ever removed from the case was when a reigning monarch attempted to have the piece restored.

Restoration efforts have had varying levels of success to the point where most of the piece can now be played. Unfortunately, the first three pages of Forever, My Love are far too worn away and most music conservators admit that restoring these pages is extremely unlikely.

by Phil Henry

The Theme of the Piece

Forever, My Love is all about the tragedy of romance, followed by the hint of hope - that whatever romance the ‘two leads’ of the piece have can hold out against all odds.

The piece starts slow. A light and tentative tone, building up steadily into something quicker, more joyous, to elicit visions of a budding romance. Two of the violinists enter a back and forth, a dance, as the ‘leads’ romance continues to build. They play off of each other fantastically, evoking the feeling that nothing could ever tear those two apart.

In the next section lies the tragedy. The rhythm switches, catches the violinists off kilter as the accompaniment begins to drown the players’ tune. They try to adjust but now, instead of playing in tandem, they cannot hold the same melody. The music lifts, quicker and quicker, as each note is harsher and louder than the last. Panic. Doubt. Fear. Felt by the players and audience alike.

Then the final crescendo. Through that panic, that doubt, the violinists find the melody once more, rising above the tune of the accompaniment in a triumphant display of hope and love. They play, and play, and play, as the accompaniment becomes quieter, gentler, until finally only the violinists remain playing.

Then they, too, begin to fade, back into that original light and tentative melody.

“You’re not tempted?” Corinna asks one afternoon as they walk the halls of Castle Tirav, side by side. Even within the confines of the castle, Raelle feels the winter chill seeping into her bones.

“By what?” Raelle replies. She casts her gaze over Corinna, focusing on the loose strands of hair escaping the confines of the Captain’s helmet. Pretends not to see the way Corinna’s eyes flicker over to the piece of music encased in glance down the other end of the hall. Her most treasured possession.

“The piece?” Corinna probes. Leans closer to her queen, whispering conspiratorially in her ear. “It would be a shame to never hear it, my love.”

Raelle laughs, nudging her companion away. Behind the guise of happiness lies a sullen truth; what a shame indeed…

Restoration Processes

Due to the fragility of the piece, a combination of typical restoration processes and arcane essence is used to maintain it. A series of specialised oils is applied over the paper. The first and second oils are imbued with mutation essence and are used to enhance the properties of the paper the piece is written on, as well as the ink used to write it. The final oil is imbued with lifeblood essence to offer further protection from outside factors.

There is, of course, a finesse to applying the oils. No more than 5ml of each oil is used on any given page. Each oil must be applied ten hours apart (to stop them from negatively interacting with one another). Excess oil must be wiped away immediately with a dry cloth.

Creator

Viera D'Arras

Created In

D'Arras Hall

Item type

Book / Document

Current Location

Tiraven

Rarity

Unique - only one copy exists in Ma'rune, despite attempts to make duplicates

The Vost twins - Frederick and Bernadette - were a well known musical duet active between 851 AL and 863 AL. They were known for hunting down lost musical pieces and had managed to find several other pieces of sheet music by famous composers.

The difference between those pieces and their claim of finding the sheet music for Forever, My Love is that neither of them were actually able to produce the sheet music. They would frequently blame this on the quality of the sheet music, apparently wanting to avoid wearing away the paper anymore than it already was.

Composition

Forever, My Love is a purely instrumental piece. It consists of a number of string and woodwind instruments, including:

• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Flute
• Clarinet
• Oboe