MohicanLand Musical Musings: The Music of The Last of the Mohicans
"Parlay" (by Randy Edelman) is the musical background to the meeting between Monro and Montcalm. Col.
Monro is prepared to bargain for time until reinforcements arrive from Fort Edward; then he reads the letter from General Webb,
which forces him to surrender to Montcalm. The music begins ominously, setting the stage for what we know must happen
and evoking such sadness at Monro's need to surrender because of the cowardice of his countryman.
"Parley" is in a slow, measured tempo. Most of the piece is something
like a suite of short melodies or themes in succession, coming together occasionally in discord.
It starts slowly, picks up in interest, and then backs down as it goes along.
This would be similar to the flow of thoughts and feelings that Monro, Duncan, Montcalm, and even Magua must have gone
through during the parlay.
Triumph and sadness, success and failure, pride and shame...a complex series of
emotions passing from one to the next. The piece ends with low tones of an organ providing a certain sense of finality,
sealing their fate and that of Fort William Henry.
On to "Massacre/Canoes"
Back to "Monro's Office/Stockade"
Back to the beginning of MohicanLand Musical Musings
Copyright �1999 - 2001 by Sarah F. Melcher - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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