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String Quartet 3: Aretino in Solrésol

February 14th, 2012 · 1 Comment

The third string quartet consists of five of the erotic sonnets of Piero Aretino, translated into Solrésol. (There’s a preparatory sketch here.) In the first movement, the first four sonnets are offered simultaneously, each played by a different instrument. The translation is isorhythmic, with one beat of rest between words, two between lines, and four between stanzas. Each sonnet is a dialogue between a man and a woman; for each player, the male part is pitched an octave lower than the female. The second movement is based solely on the fifth sonnet. The first violin takes the woman’s part, the ‘cello the man’s, and all join in for the last word of each line, which is either cazzo ( sol-sol-la-mi) or potta (sol-sol-la-mī). The translation for this movement is more rhythmically varied.

Here’s the beginning of the first movement.

 

Tags: *Music · S

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  • 1 name String Quartets // Jan 4, 2018 at 7:09 am

    […] 3: ARETINO IN SOLRÉSOL. Five erotic sonnets by Piero Aretino translated into the universal musical language Solrésol. […]