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"Song of the Vowels" by Jacques Lipchitz

After the war, about 1927, I was a subscriber to the Paris Symphony Orchestra. From my reserved seat the harp section was the nearest to my eye. The music and the vibration of the harp strings created in me a feeling of big flying birds. From this feeling was born a sculpture called "The Harp Player" and, in 1930, a sculpture called "The Harpists."

I was dreaming of making a large sculpture of "The Harpists," which would be devoted to the creative power of the human being, when Madame de Mandrot asked me to make a sculpture for her vineyard garden in the South of France, where Courbusier was building a house for her. The setting is very beautiful. Beyond the vineyard garden are the Maures Mountains. I decided to make this sculpture of which I had been dreaming. At the same time, I heard somewhere about an Egyptian papyrus which speaks about a prayer sung by the priestesses called the "Song of the Vowels." This song was supposed to command the forces of nature.

And the sculpture was born.