What was still life about? I know its about her but whats the story and how did it end?
Here's the skeleton to the story:
1) some guy is ostracized from a village (or town) He is "outcast with dogmas forged below" and viewed as an "ungodly freak, defiler." After 15 years he returns to find melinda "melinda is the reason why I've come. (the moor)
2) He's back in search of melinda "red eyes probe the scene......searing beams tracking you down" and finally finds her ("the gleam of her eyes, in the moment she knew") (godhead's lament)
3) They take a moment out and find solace in the forest in each other's comfort (benighted)
4) He is back in a place where he has been outcast. But the town is brooding and suspicious and on his track. ("their scorn behind your back.....immemorial fire in their eyes....the council of the cross must have sense my coming") He is nearly captured but escapes. ("In palor escape from the end......Taken away from stifling grace, and saved from the past ")
5) Our protagonist has come back for melinda in the hope that they would steal away from the town together ("I returned for you in great dismay, come with me far away to stay"). To his horror he finds out melinda is married or engaged to marry someone else but is still in love with our protagonist. ("she had sworn her vows to another.....still i plot to have her back.......my promise is made but my heart is thine") . She agrees to leave with him. (face of melinda)
6) Things are great, a "hybernal dream." But melinda is captured ("no longer by my side.....ripped from my embrace"), and she is executed. ("Red line round her neck, met the earth in silence, white faced, haggard grin, the serenity painted death")
7) our protagonist is ultimately captured and executed also ("the noose is tied, murmur through the crowd"). Thus the song White cluster and the grim end that sounds like the ending of a record/music/life and the tragic symbolism captured in that vague static.
hope that helps.
I love the way the music reflects what is happeneing at the time
