Removing notes from Mendelssohn overture shows plight of humpback whales

Hebrides Overture’s disappearing notes highlight the plight of humpback whales.

Felix Mendelssohn's The Hebrides was inspired by the composer's 1829 trip to the British Isles. His overture has now inspired collaboration between a Cambridge economist and a composer, using sound to call attention to the loss of biodiversity on Earth. Hebrides Redacted successively removes notes from the 10- to 11-minute overture in proportion to the decline in humpback whale populations over many decades. A short film about the project (embedded above) was released today as part of the Cambridge Zero Climate Change Festival.

“Over the past century we have seen nearly a million species pushed to the brink of extinction—nature is going quiet,” said Matthew Agarwala, an economist at the University of Cambridge. “Researchers—including me—have been sounding the alarm about the consequences of biodiversity loss for a long time, but the message isn’t landing. Music is visceral and emotional, and grabs people’s attention in ways that scientific papers just can’t.”

Mendelssohn visited England and Scotland at the invitation of the Philharmonic Society. It was during his tour of Fingal's Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa that inspiration struck, and he quickly wrote down the opening theme that came to him. The opening notes feature violas, cellos, and bassoons to evoke the cave's beauty, while a secondary theme is meant to convey the rolling waves of the sea.

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