chorus children

Commissioned by Simsbury Public Schools, Silent Moon was composed in 2007 for SSAA and piano. The text, collected from a number of different poems by Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) where the moon appears prominently, were adapted from the originals in Italian.

Calvino says it best: "As soon as the moon appears in poetry, it brings with it a sensation of lightness, suspension, a silent calm enchantment." "For the miraculous thing about [Leopardi's] poetry is that he simply takes the weight out of language, to the point that it resembles moonlight. The appearances of the moon in his poetry do not take up many lines, but they are enough to shed the light of the moon on the whole poem, or else to project upon it the shadow of its absence.

It is the sensation of lightness, of suspension and transparency that I was after in adapting and setting Leopardi's poetry in Silent Moon.