A drama that can tell a wonderful story through a variety of characters against a historical backdrop, stories that can touch your heart, stories that can make you burst out laughing or burst into tears when something happens to one of these beloved characters. I’ve always been envious of anyone who can create and write stories in such a way that it seems almost easy. It’s how I wish I could write. I wish that I could be so emotionally invested in my characters as I am the characters of Julian Fellowes’s amazing series, Downton Abbey. Like a revamped “Upstairs, Downstairs”, the series debuted a couple years ago and only after my mom told me about it did I try watching an episode. I was hooked. It wasn’t even the first episode of the first season. But I knew that I wanted to see where the series began, where the characters got their start and what it was about them that made them so lovable.
As much as I love watching Downton Abbey, I love to diagnose its successes, how the stories twist and turn and pull viewers along with it. It helps that the score of this wonderful show is so beautiful that you can’t help but feel as though you yourself are at Downton as well. Along with the gorgeous “Downton Abbey Suite” performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London, there have been two albums released with a bevy of favorite pieces from the first and second seasons of the show. Today, I’ll be sharing 5 of them with you and telling you what I see when I listen to them.
Nothing To Forgive: He takes her hand in his as they walk among the woods in the night. The moon is high. If they were alone or in some place she didn’t know so well, her heart beat might have tripled. Even now, it raced but not for fear, but excitement. This was the first opportunity she’d had to spend alone with him in weeks. Ever since their last discussion, she’d been unable to say what she’d truly felt. She’d thought he was upset with her. But his warm fingers curled around hers assured her that that was far from the truth. There were others walking through the woods around them, concentrated on another task altogether. The crunches of their boots over sticks and pine cones was the only noise aside from heavy breathing. Fog puffed from every mouth around her. It was chilly. He glances at her and remarks that she’s shivering. Her heart nearly stops as he guides her closer to him. For moments, she wishes this night would never end.
Story of My Life: His knees buckle as he falls to the floor of the entrance way. The door was still open behind him, rain sputtering in at his ankles. The dog whined next to him and nudged him with its nose. But he couldn’t make himself move. The shivers racked him hard and it took everything he had to keep himself from crying out. He didn’t want to go fully into that darkened house. He didn’t want to shut the door on this death and believe it to be over. He didn’t want to accept it. Above him, he heard the quick patter of footfalls. There were others there of course. Had there not been, he might have remained there all day, letting his thoughts run away to happier places. But that wouldn’t be the case today. “Time marches on” as the old saying goes. He got to his feet, brushing off their concern and walked further into the house, forgetting to close that door behind him. When one of the others does, it echoes in his sub-conscious for a very short time. And he walks further into the dark house to leave it behind.
Damaged: She stared out the window from the top level, watching the sun rise over the hill in the distance. Out there, somewhere, he had gone to make his fortune. He had left with the promise that he would return. She hugged herself, the sky steadily dying pink the higher the sun ascended. Soon, it cast its rays over her and crept into the hall past her night gown. It was a necessity. He had to do what he needed to do and she had to let him. For split seconds, she only wished that she could be there along side with him. Reality shattered that illusion. She had to remain here. It was her place. She had things she needed to do as well. She had to think of those things first. It was the start of a new day and her mind needed to be on the tasks at hand. She couldn’t let her eyes be guided to watching those hills. It would be some time before she ever saw him again. She had to distract herself until it didn’t hurt so much anymore. It was the only way to get by.
Titanic: Sometimes when you least expect it, bad news can come in the smallest packages. In this case, one of the thinnest as well. A small slip of paper, with words curled in ink on it brought the news that she desperately didn’t want to hear. He was injured, hospitalized and far, far away from her. She felt the paper crumple in her grip. Her attention was drawn back to those windows, except there was no sun rising over them now, only imminent rain. She rushed to the wardrobe and began pulling out clothes. She couldn’t say here a moment longer. She had to go, had to get to him. Thunder rumbled over the house and it only made her pause for a moment in her flurry. A little storm wasn’t going to stop her.
BONUS: A Dangerous Path: (This track is actually on someone’s Tumblr account. When you click the link, you have to go in and click on the box that says “A Dangerous Path.” For a little extra work, it’s worth it. This track is phenomenal.) The rain began to fall, striking the windows and streaking across the world, blurring it. More fell and obstructed the road ahead and the countryside along side. Darkness hung like a reverse umbrella over the world, trapping the storm in. She bumped along the roads in the car, slowly making her way toward the hills. Why did they seem so much farther away now? It seemed as though it had been hours since she’d left the house when it had just been a few minutes ago. Time couldn’t move faster for her and in some ways, she didn’t want it to. She wasn’t eager to get to the hospital and see what had befallen him. She didn’t want to allow herself to believe that this could happen, that it had happened. And she wished that there was someone else with her to ease her nerves. But this was how things were. She had to accept them for the way they were and hope that there would still be time when she got there. The car followed the twists in the dirt road as it slowly grew smaller and smaller over the hills, vanishing further into the green of the countryside and then the woods, the all-too-familiar woods where they had at last joined hands.
Gimme a minute. *Recovers from the heartrending thoughts that inspired those last few paragraphs*. Whoo. Okay. I’m good.
Next week on Inspiration Through Music, we’re going to take a turn and do something much, much different. As our first February entry, we’ll be looking at electronica band Little People. Stay tuned!
~KSilva
The Kat At Night 