The word painting of this incipient operatic style is so breathtaking. This use of an emotionally affective solo vocal over a simple chordal accompaniment is very relevant to modern singer songwriters as well.
Here's the famous painting of Francesca.
Also, this morning at work I have been shotlisting aftermath of floods. So I have written some lyrics which relate to this experience, and intend to set them to an ornamented, emotionally affective vocal line over cello and uke.
Francesca and the Caccini family, thank you all for this inspiration.
Here are the simple lyrics. I love this idea, but have yet to see if it works in practice. I am convinced it will.
FLOOD SONG
It all happened so fast
I can't even put it into words
So much damage has been done
Everything that we had built is gone
We are left here with the water
And our neighbours who hug us
For they too have lost everything
And have no insurance
Too late for sandbags
In our rubber dinghy
We paddle the streets
Watching the rescue workers in waterproof clothing
outside the block of flats
They carry our old friend into the ambulance.
We talk, and wade and stand
And hold each other
A flood flushing us out of our homes and destroying most of what we have must be unimaginably demoralising. But life goes on - while there's life, there's hope. After all, a few generations ago, our ancestors had virtually nothing but themselves and the clothes they stood up in, half the time anyway. It's an important point to raise and makes us think about the transigence of material goods.
ReplyDeleteFortunately my boyfriend lives on a boat
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