HELIADES

The Heliades, in ancient Greece, were the legendary daughters of Helium, the God of the Sun, and of the nymph Clymene. Their story is closely linked to the myth of their brother Phaeton who, having received their father's solar chariot, clumsily approached earth too much, drying up the rivers and burning the forests. Zeus, shocked by the destruction, struck the cart with lightning and made Phaeton fall into the waters of the river Eridano (Po) where he drowned. Disconsolate over the death of their brother, the crying Heliades desperately watched over him by the banks of the river for four long months. Zeus, pitying their pain, turned them into poplar trees, and their tears became drops of amber.

This story and its respect for the value and preciousness of nature was the starting point for composing Heliades, a composition dedicate to the town of Povolaro (Vicenza)—the name of the town means “poplar grove” in Venetian dialect—for the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Wind Band "V. Bellini ” conducted by Corrado Vezzaro. The composition is based on sixteenth-century counterpoint techniques, a reference to the music of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, which in this period lived its maximum splendor, and is inspired, simply, by the sound of the bells of the church of Povolaro.