Donemus Webshop — Three Michelangelo songs

Other authors:
Michelangelo (librettist)
Contains:
O notte, dolce tempo
Sulla morte di Cecchino Bracci
Di morte certo
Description:
Program note (English): A reviewer of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad rewarded me in December 1990 with two almost jubilant reviews. The first referred to To Brooklyn Bridge, for choir and 15 instruments; the second to Intermezzi, for nine winds. I was especially struck by the end of the second review: "Keuris' Intermezzi are smothered in the French horns a bit too rapidly (...) but, at any rate, they turned out as sketches of a large capacity".
I was amazed, how could this man guess that these were indeed sketches, especially the first part and the end which is "smothered in the French horns a bit too rapidly"? It had indeed been my intention, right from the start, to do more with this material, but I had kept this to myself. At the time I composed the Intermezzi, agreements had been made for a work for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Although a text had not yet been found, my intention was to write a piece in which rather melancholic farewell gestures would play an important role. When I chanced upon the Michelangelo sonnets, I immediately saw in the sonnet "O notte dolce tempo" the possibility to use the Intermezzi as a basis.
A nice working method: there was a fixed direction in the music, my task was to interweave the vocal part in music that partly already existed, make a completely new instrumentation and create new connections. This working method had also proven to be satisfactory for me when I composed To Brooklyn Bridge (my first vocal work).

In my opinion, one of the great dangers of working with texts is that the poet imposes a rhythmic structure on the composer. This is why I tried, when writing a fragment, to first write the music I felt would have the most appropriate atmosphere, and only after that work on the exact timing and placing of the text. In the second movement: "Sulla morte de Cecchino Bracci", the opening rhythm of the text was an impulse, but no more than that. Otherwise I used the same method.

In the last sonnet, I sensed a disruption between the poet's complaint and his exceptionally religious attitude. It seemed to me that apparently he puts himself above all those poor sinners; he seems unconcerned with this world that is no good anyway, apparently feeling that he himself was already safe. However this may be, it didn't make a completely honest impression on me. Nevertheless, it was musically very attractive; and I went along with the moods of the sonnet unhesitatingly. - TRISTAN KEURIS

Sheet Music
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Product	Description	Price/piece	Count
Score	Download to Newzik (A3), 64 pages	EUR 37.84
	Download as PDF (A3), 64 pages	EUR 45.40
	Hardcopy, normal size (A3), 64 pages	EUR 75.68
	Hardcopy, study size (A4), 64 pages	EUR 51.12