LICOSA

The three sirens Leucosia, Ligeia, and Parthenope, failing to charm Ulysses and overcome by sorrow, found death in the deep sea. Their bodies were later located in three distinct areas, which since then have carried their names: Parthenope (today Naples), Aegean (on the coasts of modern Calabria), and Leucosia, today the small island of Licosa in Castellabate. The composition describes Ulysses’s journey back to Ithaca and the difficult test he had to face when he arrived near the island of the Sirens. Ulysses recommended to his crew: “Comrades, we are going to arrive at the island of the sirens, a stretch of sea infested by those dangerous creatures. No one should be seduced by the tempters. If you let their melodies attract you, you’ll be lost. I will close your ears with wax and I will cover your head so that you won’t see anything. You will only row harder than ever and try to move away as soon as possible from this terrible stretch of coastline near the Gulf of Salerno. Please lash me to the mast of the ship with the biggest ropes so that I cannot untie. I’m going to listen to the siren song, but if I ask you to untie me, I forbid you to loosen me. Instead double the ligaments.” Thanks to the strong stern wind sent by the goddess Circe, the ship arrived quickly near the Gulf of Salerno when, suddenly, the wind stopped. Spotting the island of the sirens, the crew, surrounded by wonderful melodies, began to row. Ulysses used all his strength and his commitment to resist the enchanting melody that came from the island. He was suffering and only the ropes kept him tied to the ship, which quickly moved away from the coast. Leucosia, the most beautiful of the sirens, did not believe what she was witnessing. She was used to attract with her singing all passing sailors and could not believe that Ulysses was resisting her. She looked at him going away and, full of anger and pain, she threw herself off the rocks and sank into the sea. The God of the sea, however, decided to return the body of the siren Leucosia to the earth and laid it at the end of the Gulf of Salerno, on a cliff that took the name of Isola di Licosa. This composition is dedicated to the Association “Concerto Bandistico Santa Cecilia” of Castellabate for the 170 years of its founding.