LE SELVE ARDENTI
Enrico Tiso sets The Burning Forests to music, Salgari’s last Western novel. The surviving Sioux, led by Minnehaha, flee to Canada, pursued by the U.S. Army and others. Chases and clashes reveal the deep hatred between Sioux and Americans.
Description
The piece is inspired by Emilio Salgari’s novel Le Selve Ardenti (1910), the last of the three novels in the Far West Cycle (the others in the trilogy are On the Frontiers of the Far West and The Scalper).
It is divided into four sections, seamlessly connected.
The opening Adagio, introduced by a flute solo, aims to depict the evocative setting of the first part of the story, near the frozen banks of the Middle Loup. Winter has covered the Nebraska prairies and forests with a thick layer of snow.
This is followed by the Allegro, characterized by a relentless rhythm on a bass ostinato and short melodic and rhythmic-melodic phrases that follow one another. It describes the chases and battles between the Selve Ardenti (as the Sioux are called) and the group of men led by Indian agent John, Colonel Devandel, Harry, Sandy-Hook, and others.
The music calms down, and a five-bar diminuendo transition leads into the Adagio. After a brief trumpet phrase, a gentle melody played by flutes and clarinets begins. This represents the image of the beautiful Minehaha, the Sakem who leads the Selve Ardenti alongside her father, Red Cloud.
A molto ritenuto leads into the second Allegro, which revisits the themes and melodies of the first one with slight variations. A brief crescendo introduces a six-bar coda that brings the piece to its conclusion. It marks the final confrontation between the opposing sides, the destruction of the last Selve Ardenti.
It is divided into four sections, seamlessly connected.
The opening Adagio, introduced by a flute solo, aims to depict the evocative setting of the first part of the story, near the frozen banks of the Middle Loup. Winter has covered the Nebraska prairies and forests with a thick layer of snow.
This is followed by the Allegro, characterized by a relentless rhythm on a bass ostinato and short melodic and rhythmic-melodic phrases that follow one another. It describes the chases and battles between the Selve Ardenti (as the Sioux are called) and the group of men led by Indian agent John, Colonel Devandel, Harry, Sandy-Hook, and others.
The music calms down, and a five-bar diminuendo transition leads into the Adagio. After a brief trumpet phrase, a gentle melody played by flutes and clarinets begins. This represents the image of the beautiful Minehaha, the Sakem who leads the Selve Ardenti alongside her father, Red Cloud.
A molto ritenuto leads into the second Allegro, which revisits the themes and melodies of the first one with slight variations. A brief crescendo introduces a six-bar coda that brings the piece to its conclusion. It marks the final confrontation between the opposing sides, the destruction of the last Selve Ardenti.
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