Work
Meditations on Michelangelo
for violin and string orchestra
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About
The work is based on a previous composition of Jack Body, a setting for two female voices of the love sonnets of Michelangelo, composed in 1982 for dance/choreographer Michael Parmenter. Body has been fond of the melodic material composed many years ago and continued to be moved by Michelangelo's poetry, which honours male beauty and laments the ravages of age.
In this new version, commissioned by the Japanese violinist Rieko Suzuki, Body reworks the musical material, intensifying its emotional quality to convey the essence of Michelangelo's extraordinary poems.
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Rieko Suzuki
Contents note
- 'S un casto amor, s' un una pieta superna'
- 'Passa per gli occhi al core in un momento'
- 'D'altrui pietoso e sol di se spietato'
- 'Veggio nel bel viso, signor mio'
- 'Non posso altra figura immaginarmi'
- 'Se' da' prim' anni aperto un lento e poco...'
- 'Caro m'e il sonno, e piu l'esser di sasso'
Performance history
08 Feb 2008: Ensemble Ruspoli
02 Sep 2008: 2008 NZSO-SOUNZ Readings 2
25 Mar 2014: NZSM Orchestra: Dreams and Meditations
Performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Martin Riseley, and conducted by Kenneth Young