“Calm Sea” and “Prosperous Voyage,” two poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
contrast the anxious brooding of stasis with the energy of inspiration in a vivid paradigm of the coaching process.
Composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn were both inspired to set Goethe’s poems to music. Mendelssohn’s concert overture for orchestra captures the deathly stillness described in “Calm Sea” and the surge of energy as the winds pick up in “Prosperous Voyage.” Eventually, trumpet fanfares celebrate a safe landing and the promise of future happiness and fulfillment.
Calm Sea
Deep stillness rules the waters,
Motionless lies the sea;
The fretful sailor observes
The glassy surface all around.
No breezes from any side!
Only frightening stilless!
In the vast expanse of ocean
Not a single wave.
Prosperous Voyage
The fog dissipates, the sky is clear,
And Aeolus unbinds
The anxious fetters.
The winds whisper,
The sailor stirs: Quickly! Quickly!
The waves begin to roll,
The horizon approaches;
Now I see land!