LUX VIVIDA

The piece aims to leave a clear, brilliant, and vibrant image in the listener's mind. The idea suggested by the title "Luce Viva" ("Living Light") serves as the main element, the hallmark of the piece, evoking the historically established concept of program music. In this kind of composition, the content was made up of lived situations, actions, or thoughts. Generally, extra-musical elements were expressed in three different ways:
The first was the reproduction of sound impressions based on acoustic imitation—for example, the sound of horns in hunting scenes, or high-pitched flutes imitating birdsong. Among the countless examples, we can recall Vivaldi who, in the second movement of Summer from The Four Seasons, uses the lower register of the strings, rapidly repeating the same note, to imitate the rumble of thunder.
Another way of expressing program music was through musical symbolism: certain images were reproduced by analogy—for example, running, halting, upward or downward movements, effects of nearness or distance. Again, in Vivaldi’s Spring (first movement), the flight and death of the hunted beast is described as a swift chase ending in a fall to the ground by descending to the lower register; while lightning is vividly portrayed with rapid scales ascending sharply, then breaking off suddenly.
The third approach involved expressing emotions and inner states. This method allowed complete freedom in musical structure, and the abstraction of specific moments was conveyed through the character of the theme (joyful or melancholic) and the type of motion (slow for sorrow, fast for joy).
Lux Vivida, being closer to this third model of program music, aims to leave a fresh, positive, and intense impression. In the various thematic contrasts that follow one another, rhythmic moments alternate with broad melodic passages—and in the final part, the intensification of these elements emphasizes how the “living light” running throughout the entire piece is the unifying thread of the whole composition.