Works

Monodrama of ancient customs 

Text by Pierre Louys

A woman stands alone on stage protected by five musicians behind her. Aphrodite is a theatre of sounds and words where the female voice of the protagonist, Criside, recites the text from the novel of the same name by Pierre Louÿs. The tale of the courtesan begins with her indifference to Demetrio’s unrequited love for her and develops through her gradual, conscious understanding that she cannot return his affection until the tragic choice of dying before the people of Alexandria. The exotic setting for the story is expressed through whispered, sighed, shouted and sung speech that blends with a harp, flutes and three xylophones. An erotic game of timbres; the ritual of a voice that seduces music, envelops it, incites rhythms, colours and movements from it. A dance between a woman and the instruments that court the body of her voice like lovers.

First performance:
Roma, Villa Massimo, Accademia Tedesca, 5 July 1988
Gabriella Bartolomei, actress 
Giovanni Trovalusci, flute 
Trio Ars Ludi, percussions 
Patrizia Radici, harp 

Instrumentation (with microfone amplifier):
Actress / fl (Pan, traverso, traverso barocco), 3 perc, arpa

Duration: 50’  

Score Number Catalogue Ricordi: (134936)