EVOLUTION SERIES Vol. 10

Together, alike: these are the meanings, or better, the concepts expressed by the Latin adverb pariter. It means to do things together, to act in the same way and, more broadly, to be all alike each with our own differences. A series of concepts that I tried to translate into music in order to tell and remember a wonderful story of our nation. The events took place around 1943 in a town (Nonantola) in the province of Modena. Going against the racial laws of the period and endangering their safety, an entire population helped to hide and, subsequently, to flee to Switzerland 73 Jewish children/teenagers mostly from Eastern Europe who were sheltered in a large villa in the Modena countryside. They did it in the most authentic and sincere way: by hiding and welcoming them in their own farmhouses and in the religious seminar of the village, providing new documents useful for expatriation (omitting the obligatory indication of race) and sewing, in a very short time, 73 identical coats to make them look like a group of boarding school students. This is a positive story of people who managed to "see" humanity in others, even in "different" ones. Humanity that knows how to speak and listen. An ability that, obviously not in a comparable situation, is also necessary to make music together. Pariter is a grade 1.5 youth band composition inspired by this story, these people and the extent/value of their actions and thoughts. The piece was commissioned by the Foundation “C. e G. Andreoli" of Mirandola to celebrate the Republic Day 2019.

SPRING DRIZZLE

Spring Drizzle is a short musical description of the transition from winter to spring. The main theme, lively and staccato, is the representation of the spring rain which, like the sound of a tiny bell, comes to announce the arrival of summer. The middle theme, andante moderato, instead describes nature which, still numb from the rigors of winter, slowly wakes up and opens its flowers. The development of the main theme and the finale represent the wind and the lightning that, after a brief appearance, disappear to make room for the festive birds, which greet the new sun.

NIAMH AND OISIN

Oisín, son of Fionn mac Cumhail of the Fianna, was a famous Irish poet and a warrior. He loved music, poetry and singing; people gathered from every province to hear him recite and sing. One day a beautiful girl came to the county to listen to his poems. She had sparkling blue eyes and long golden hair; she rode Embarr, the most beautiful white horse ever seen in Ireland. "What's your name and where are you from?" asked Oisín. "I am Niamh and I come from Tir-na-nOg, the land of eternal youth," replied the girl. The two fell in love and spent happy moments together. Soon, however, it was time for Niamh to return to Tir-na-nOg, and she asked Oisín to follow her. "In my land you will be forever happy, and you will never grow old" she said. Oisín agreed to go with her, said goodbye to relatives and friends and they left. Riding on the majestic Embarr, they quickly reached the coast and then off to the sea, galloping over the crests of the waves. They arrived in the magical land of Tir-na-nOg, where they were warmly welcomed by all the inhabitants. Oisín soon settled in and felt just like at home. Everyone loved him and was very happy next to Niamh. After three years, however, he began to miss his Ireland and decided to return. "Niamh, my dear, this is a wonderful land, but I want to go home and see my father again" he said to his beloved. Niamh was deeply disturbed and despaired: she had not revealed to Oisín that every year spent in Tir-na-nOg amounted to a hundred years spent in Ireland, and if he had touched the ground all the three hundred years passed would suddenly have fallen upon him, bringing him quickly to old age and death. "Go to your father" said Niamh, "but remember, for no reason you will have to touch the Irish soil! If you do, you will never be able to return to me. Take my Embarr, he can ride without touching the ground and he will take you safely to Ireland." Oisín, while not understanding the reasons, promised that he would never get off the horse, then kissed Niamh and left. When he arrived in Ireland he was very surprised by what he saw: everything had changed in his native places, the great plains of his youth were gone, the population was dressed in a strange way, the great fortresses of the Fianna were completely in ruins, covered with brushwood and brambles. Oisín asked some inhabitants: "Where is my father Fionn mac Cumhail? Where are the knights of Fianna?" "They have been dead for hundreds of years," they answered. Oisín, confused and saddened, decided to return to Tir-na-nOg but along the way he met some men who were trying to lift a heavy stone and decided to help them. In doing so the reins of the horse broke and Oisín fell to the ground, suddenly becoming old and dying shortly thereafter. The big white horse, frightened, galloped back to Tir-na-nOg.