Elegy for the Arctic

Type: Composition

Author: Ludovico Einaudi

Release date: 2016

Genre: Classical (piano only)

Language: English (language of the writing in the video)

The composition “Elegy for the Arctic” was created by the author in support of theglobal organization Greenpeace, which was created for the purpose of protecting and safeguarding the planet’s ecosystems and their biodiversity (Focus, 2016). The piece was thus an expression of the author’s choice to join the other eight million people who had signed the appeal in which the organization called on the international community to protect the Arctic from exploitation and climate change, particularly drilling and overfishing (Focus, 2016).

The song was released just days before OSPAR, the international commission charged with the conservation of the Northeast Atlantic, held an important meeting that had on its agenda the establishment of a protected area of more than 226 thousand kilometers in the international waters of the Arctic Ocean (Tempo. Music for climate action, n.d.).

The composer composed this piece using only a grand piano. The melody features the repetition of many descending scales, a symbol of falling, in this case of ice into the sea due to melting. At the conclusion of the piece there is a long silence, an invitation toward listeners to contemplate the beauty of the Arctic landscape and its value, just as the author does.

The video clip shows Einaudi performing this piece on Arctic ice, a short distance from the Svalbard Islands, aboard a floating platform. The composer and grand piano are then in the foreground, while in the background stands the Wahlenbergbreen glacier, part of the Svalbard Islands (Climate in Global Cultures and Histories: Promoting Climate Litracy Across Disciplines, 2023). In the first scene of the film, moreover, parts of the glaciers melt as they fall into the sea, arousing the amazement of the musician who shortly afterwards begins to play.

The engaging action of the song and video clip has also been praised by “Tempo: music for climate action,” a project created by climatologists, scientists and musicians who have joined together to inspire climate-protecting action through music (Tempo. Music for climate action, n.d.).

“Elegy for the Arctic” is thus not only a timeless piece of classical music, but also a declaration of the composer’s love for the Arctic, and consequently for the planet, and a call for its protection and preservation.