Alessandro Cuozzo - Eleonora Op. 69 (Edgar Allan Poe) [score video]

#edgarallanpoe #pianomusic #gothic
ELEONORA is based on the dramatic love tale by the American writer E. A. Poe. It is a choreographic poem for piano divided into 3 scenes. The musical themes of the characters arise from the letters that make up the American alphabet, while the use of the melodic transformations of inversion, retrograde and retrograde of inversion allow to highlight their multiple psychological facets.

Scene 1 "In the valley of the many-colored grass" 0:00
The one I loved in my youth was my cousin Eleonora. We had always lived together in the Valley of the Many-colored Grass. No one without a guide ever came to that valley, for it lay in the midst of a range of great hills, barring the sunlight from its gentlest recesses. To reach our happy home, it was necessary to push aside the foliage of thousands of forest trees and crush the splendor of millions of fragrant flowers. We lived alone, knowing nothing of the world beyond the valley. A narrow and deep river flowed through the valley, brighter than anything but Eleonora's eyes. We named it the "River of Silence". The banks of the river and the streams that flowed into its channel and the whole valley were carpeted with a soft green grass, thick, short, perfectly uniform and scented with vanilla, but all sprinkled with yellow buttercup, white daisy, and ruby red asphodel whose extraordinary beauty spoke aloud to our hearts of the love and glory of God. The bark was stained with the alternating vivid sheen of ebony and silver and was smoother than anything but Eleonora's cheeks. Hand in hand through this valley, for fifteen years, I wandered with Eleonora before Love entered our hearts. It was one evening that we sat tightly in each other's embrace, under the snake-like trees, and watched our own images reflected in the water of the River of Silence. We said nothing during the rest of that sweet day. From those waves we had evoked the god Eros and felt that he had kindled in us the fiery souls of our ancestors. A change fell on all things. Strange bright star-shaped flowers opened on trees. Dozens of ruby red asphodels sprouted. The long flamingo together with bright and cheerful birds, flaunted its scarlet plumage before us. Gold and silver fishes populated the river, from whose a lulling melody came out more divine than that of Aeolus's harp, sweeter than anything but Eleonora's voice. A voluminous cloud floated all ablaze with crimson and gold. Eleonora's beauty was that of the Seraphim; but she was as naïve and innocent as the short life she had led among the flowers. She had seen that the finger of Death was on her chest and that she had been made perfect in beauty only to die. She grieved at the thought that, after having buried her, I would pour out love to a girl from the outside world. I threw myself at her feet and vowed that I would never be tied in marriage to any daughter of the Earth. She told me that she would watch over me and return visible to me in the night watches or that she would sigh for me with the evening breeze or fill the air with the scent of angels' censers. With these words she made her life innocent to heaven and all the beauty of nature disappeared. Eleonora's promises were not forgotten, as I heard the sounds of the swinging of the angels' censers and indistinct murmurs often filled the night air. Only once was I awakened from sleep by the kiss of spiritual lips resting on mine. At the end the valley grieved me with its memories of Eleonora and I left it forever to follow the vanity and turbulent triumphs of the world.

Scene 2 "In a foreign city" 07:37
I found myself in a foreign city where everything could erase the memory of the sweet dreams lived in the valley of the many-colored grass. The pomp and splendor of a court majestic, the mad clamor of weapons and the radiant beauty of women bewildered and intoxicated my mind. But my soul proved true to its vote and the signs of Eleonora's presence manifested themselves in the silent hours of the night. Suddenly these manifestations ceased: the world darkened before my eyes and I was terrified by burning thoughts and terrible temptations that assailed and possessed me.

Scene 3 "The Spirit of Love" 08:52
From a very distant and unknown country, a girl came to the king's court where I was serving, to whose beauty my heart immediately gave in without a fight. Oh, divine was the angel Ermengarde! And as I looked deep into her eyes, I thought only of them ... only of her. I married her without fear of the curse I had invoked. And once — but once again in the silence of the night; there came through my lattice the soft sighs which had forsaken me; and they modelled themselves into familiar and sweet voice, saying: “Sleep in peace! For the Spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth, and, in taking to thy passionate heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art absolved, for reasons which shall be made known to thee in Heaven, of thy vows unto Eleonora.”