LA MATITA DI LEONARDO

“Genius men sometimes do more when they work less,  because they are thinking about inventions and forming the perfect idea in their minds, which they later express with their hands.”

Leonardo Da Vinci

2019 coincided with the 500-year anniversary of the death of Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the greatest men of genius in history, a universal genius who was a scientist, philosopher, architect, painter, musician, engineer, anatomist, botanist, designer, and planner.

This composition entitled La Matita di Leonardo (Leonardo's Pencil), represents an ideal journey into the mind of the Tuscan genius: in the first part of the piece, percussion instruments underline the ticking of the passage of time that anticipates the birth of the idea, while short thematic cells in various instruments alternate, drawing the rhythmic melodic line. On this background, we hear the main theme entrusted to the dark tones of trombone and euphonium. The music proceeds with a growing pace and an adventurous character to represent the genesis of Leonardo's machines, which are in fact the result of the drawings of his pencil.

In the second, more animated part, a new theme is introduced, varied, and elaborated, thus giving life to a vigorous movement meant to describe the drawings that come to life, leaving the pages of Leonardo’s codes. In the coda the two themes overlap, transporting the listener towards a resolute and rhythmically energetic conclusion in an enthralling and engaging finale.