Alessandro Cuozzo - Carmilla Op. 65 (based on a tale by Sheridan Le Fanu) [score video]

#lefanucarmilla #carmillabysheridanlefanu #pianomusic
Carmilla is based on the same tale written by Irish Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872. It is a choreographic poem for piano divided into 14 scenes.
The musical themes of the main characters, Carmilla and Laura, arise from the letters that make up the Irish alphabet, while the use of the melodic transformations of inversion, retrograde and retrograde of inversion allow not only to highlight their multiple psychological facets, but also to imitate a peculiar feature of one of the two girls: to anagram her name. Carmilla, in fact, a beautiful and magnetic vampire who inspired Bram Stoker in 1897 in the writing of his famous novel Dracula, appears in the succession of the story with the names of Mircalla and Millarca because she was imprisoned in those letters.
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Scene 1 "Vision" 00:00
When she was six, Laura had a vision of a very beautiful girl in her bedchamber during the night. Suddenly her throat is pierced and the visitor vanishes because of her screams.

Scene 2 "Moonlight" 02:18
Twelve years later, during a full moon night, while Laura is in the garden with the housekeepers and her father, a carriage leaves the road right in front of her castle. The wayfarers are an elegant lady and her daughter who fainted from the blow. After the first aid, the lady tells she has urgent chores to attend to, so Laura's father offers to host her daughter until she returns. The lady accepts the courtesy and confides to the kind gentleman that her daughter is in poor health and prone to nervous breakdowns. So the mysterious woman leaves in full fury, leaving her daughter there.

Scene 3 "Recognize each other" 08:07
Carmilla is very beautiful and is more or less the age of Laura, who is delighted by the visit, also because it reminds her very much of the same person who appeared many years before in her room. Carmilla and Laura immediately form a strong bond.

Scene 4 "Ecstasies of passion" 10:24
Carmilla shows Laura a lot of affection and unusual tenderness, an ardor that both embarrasses and attracts her friend.

Scene 5 "Twin image" 15:44
When a shipment of restored heirloom paintings arrives, Laura finds a portrait of her ancestor, Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, dated 1698. The portrait resembles Carmilla exactly, down to the mole on her neck. Carmilla suggests that she might be descended from the Karnsteins, like Laura.

Scene 6 "Last moonlight together" 16:54
During the moonlight the two girls go out for a walk. Carmilla kisses Laura who rejects her.

Scene 7 "Dream" 18:11
Laura dreams of a large, cat-like beast entering her room. The beast springs onto the bed and Laura feels something like two needles, an inch or two apart, darting deep into her breast. The beast then takes the form of a female figure and disappears through the door without opening it.

Scene 8 "Unknown malaise" 19:41
Laura's health declines, and her father has a doctor examine her. He finds a small, blue spot, an inch or two below her collar, where the creature in her dream bit her, and speaks privately with her father, only asking that Laura never be unattended.

Scene 9 "An old friend" 25:10
Laura and her father meet general Spielsdorf, their friend.

Scene 10 "A strange tale" 26:40
At a costume ball, with his pretty niece meet a very beautiful young woman named Millarca and her enigmatic mother. His niece is immediately taken with Millarca. The mother, warned by a mysterious man pale as death, says she has to go away on urgent business. She asks that Millarca be allowed to stay with them for three weeks. They accept, but niece's health declines and the general calls a doctor who says him that she Is a victime of a vampire. During a night the general hides in his niece's room and sees Millarca appear. He tries to kill her with the sword, but he can't. The niece dies at dawn.

Scene 11 "Among the abandoned ruins" 34:34
Arrived at the abandoned village of Karnstein, the general asks a woodman where is the tomb of Mircalla Karnstein. The woodman says the tomb was relocated long ago by a Moravian nobleman who vanquished the vampires that haunted the region.

Scene 12 "Apparition" 36:58
While the general and Laura are alone in the ruined chapel, Carmilla appears. The general recognize Mircalla and he attacks her with an axe. Carmilla disarms the general and disappears. The general explains that Carmilla is Millarca, both anagrams for the original name of the vampire Mircalla.

Scene 13 "Death" 38:14
With the help of Baron Vordenburg, they find Mircalla's hidden tomb. She is immersed in blood with heart beating and opened eyes. A stake is driven through her heart, and she gives a corresponding shriek; then, her head is struck off. Her body Is burned and the ashes are thrown into a river.

Scene 14 "Nostalgic memory" 40:07
Laura's father takes his daughter on a year-long tour through Italy to regain her health but, back home, she still imagines hearing Carmilla's footsteps behind the door.