Due Poesie di Tonino Guerra

Due Poesie di Tonino Guerra features of settings of two of the Romagnolo poet's most beloved poems. L’ARIA is an atmospheric tone poem for voice and piano on words by the Italian poet ToninoGuerra (1920-2012). The piece fuses contemporary extended vocal techniques with elementsof traditional bel canto singing. Both performers should strive to create a variety of colorsindicated by verbal cues between brackets to evoke an ethereal sound world in which the textcan vividly come to life. The singer and pianist should coexist on two separate temporalplanes, and a sense of regular meter should be completely abandoned. The rhythmic values inthe voice part are indicative of proportions rather than definite values. Clarity of text andexpressiveness of lyric diction are of utmost importance.

‍L’angelo coi baffi recounts the heartwarming taleof a moustached angel who miraculously brings a flock of stuffed birds to life. The storyreminds us to stay true to ourselves and that wonderful things can happen through simpleacts of kindness. The present musical setting brings this timeless parable to life with colourfulharmonies, vivid text-painting, and fidelity to the prosody of Guerra’s words. Inspiration forthe piece came from the charming hilltop village of Pennabilli where a mural by Luigi Poiaghiin which depicts this story.

L’aria è quella cosa leggera

Air is that weightless thing

che sta intorno alla tua testa

Which wafts around your head

E diventa più chiara quando ridi.

And becomes lighter when you laugh.

Text by Tonino Guerra (Used with permission)

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C’era un angelo coi baffi

There was once an angel with a moustache

Che non era capace di far niente

Who was not able to sit around and do nothing

E invece di volare attorno al Signore veniva giù nel Marecchia

And instead of flying around the Lord he came down to Marecchia

Dentro la casa di un cacciatore che teneva gli uccelli impagliati

Into the house of a hunter who kept stuffed birds

in piedi sul pavimento di un Camerone.

Standing upright on the floor of the cellar.

E l’angelo gli buttava il granoturcoˈ per vedere se lo mangiavano.

And the angel threw them corn to see if they would eat it.

E dai e dai con tutti i santi che ridevano dei suoi sbagli

And on and on with all the saints who laughed at his errors

Una mattina gli uccelli impagliati hanno aperto le ali e hanno preso il volo

One morning the stuffed birds spread their wings and took flight

Fuori dalla finestra, dentro l’aria del cielo

Out of the window and into the air

E cantavano come non mai.

And sang like never before

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Text by Tonino Guerra (Used with permission)

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