This piece was published in 1910 and is inspired on the play `Les Aveugles` by the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck 1862 1949. Maeterlinck is best known for his play `Pelleas et Melisande` to which Debussy Faure Sibelius and Schoenberg wrote music.
`Les Aveugles` is translated as `The Blind` or more aptly `The Sightless`. This intense symbolist play is about a group of 8 blind people who don`t have names or even personalities and are hapless and helpless. They are on an expedition led by an old priest who unbeknownst to them dies in their midst. It is not after much confusion and despair that they finally discover the horrible truth.