With marvellous music sounds the coming August...
August is the last month of summer. In the first half of the month there is a strong heat, but from the first days of the month, signs of impending autumn are already visible: the nights become colder; there is a cooling breeze which crisps the water in rivers, the rains become more frequent, often bringing prolonged foul weather. The weather in August is changeable and freakish – sometimes thunderclouds leave without rain. People say about August that it keeps a good table; it is the month when the crop ripens and there is plenty of fruit. The forest is full of mushrooms, healthy herbs, acorns and nuts. Along with the harvest comes the time to work, harvesting and stockpiling are in full swing. At the same time, the last month of summer has always been considered the calmest month of the year - hasteless, majestic. Hence, the day, alas, is waning. Evening dawns go out earlier, twilight lengthens, dews thicken, water bodies cool down in fog. The sun argues with the clouds. And suddenly one day you notice that the nights have become cold, and “star rain” happened in the clear sky.

The music of August is peculiar: it is participatory and empathetic.... its sounds can be heard among thousands of others and can never be confused.... How can you not recognise them? You can feel the sounds of the passing summer with your soul.... They are heard in the silver cobwebs in the morning, in the dew with a scattering of diamonds, in the sunbeam, no longer so bright, but still warm, every gram of the sun's warmth is worth its weight in gold, the music of the passing August is goldish, the music that has no price, the music that goes on forever....

Album "With marvellous music sounds the coming August..." is posted in the museum Phonotheque.

On the cover: Barrel-shaped vase with the ears of wheat (fragment). Émile Gallé manufactory. France, Nancy. Circa 1880