IL LAMPO
for Soprano, Piano, and String Quartet
Il Lampo from “Myricae” by Giovanni Pascoli
E cielo e terra si mostrò qual era:
la terra ansante, livida, in sussulto;
il cielo ingombro, tragico, disfatto:
bianca bianca nel tacito tumulto
una casa apparì sparì d’un tratto;
come un occhio, che, largo, esterrefatto,
s’aprì si chiuse, nella notte nera.
From the Emory Composers’ Society Chamber Connections Concert
October 30th at the Media, Literature, and Arts Outreach (Emory University)
Karyn Lisker - Soprano
Athena Grasso - Piano
Carol Xu & Rebecca Goodwin - Violins
Siji Osunkoya - Viola
Hannah Lu - Cello
Il Lampo by Giovanni Pascoli
Translation by Eli Parrish:
And the earth and sky showed themselves as they were:
the earth panting, livid, in a jolt the sky burdened, tragic, undone;
white white in the silent tumult a house appeared disappeared suddenly;
like an eyeball, that, enlarged, astonished,
opened and closed itself, in the pitch-black night.
Il Lampo features a solo soprano with a piano and string quartet accompaniment. Eli originally read and translated the musically set poem, Il Lampo by Giovanni Pascoli, in his studies of Italian Language and Culture at Emory University. Inspired by Pascoli's vivid description of a storm, Eli composed this piece as an exploration of what he describes as modern Art Songs. The compositional contours embody the dramatic descriptions of lightening, thunder, and the swirling storm.
