Publisher Donemus
Category vocal
Year Composed 2007
Duration 10 Minutes
Orchestration vocal sextet
Availability Donemus
‘La Notte’ was composed in commission of ‘Campagnie Birschoof’ as an epilogue to Liszt’s “Via Dolorosa” – visionary music that Liszt wrote in his last year of life. It’s written the text of Michelangelo’s “La notte” – gripping quatrain, the same motto of Liszts compositions.
Caro m’è ’l sonno, e più l’esser di sasso,
mentre che ’l danno e la vergogna dura;
non veder, non sentir m’è gran ventura;
però non mi destar, deh, parla basso.
—Michelangelo Buonarotti
My treasure sleep, and more, my being stone,
while hurt and the humiliations last;
and sightless, soundless, is to me the best;
so do not raise me, speak your meanings low.
(trans: Mark Daniel Cohen)