Concert Piece for Strings and Sopranino Recorder (or Picc.)
Animula vagula blandula · Concert Piece for Strings and Sopranino Recorder (or Picc.) (Hire Material)
On request
Hire material on request
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Description
Animula vagula blandula (2019) (9’)
Concert Piece for Strings and Sopranino Recorder (or Piccolo Flute)
UA/WP: 20.07.2024, 20:00 h
Archöologischer Park Cambodunum
by Orchesterverein Kempten (Ltg. Mary Ellen Kitchens)
The Roman emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD) left more than just his buildings and political achievements to posterity. On his deathbed, in a moment of deepest fear of the grey Hades, he wrote one of the most moving and beautiful poems of antiquity. ‘Animula Vagula Blandula’ was written in the midst of hopeless distress and filled with a longing for life, for beauty and for the brightness of existence. A poem whose words literally sing, whose joie de vivre is physically palpable and whose linguistic artistry only allows for meaningful translations.
This poem, so fragile and yet so strong, has stood the test of time. It has been admired, read, quoted and passed on from generation to generation. The grey night of death could not erase Hadrian’s words – his ‘animula vagula blandula’ lives on in the poem.
