Scenes from Literature: The Infernal Whirlwind
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SKU: A0.1028659
Composed by Christian Robert Hendricks. 20th Century,Concert,Contemporary. Score. 14 pages. C.R. Hendricks #3664869. Published by C.R. Hendricks (A0.1028659).The first in a series of solo piano works inspired by scenes from literature, The Infernal Whirlwind is both a representation of and reaction to Canto V in Dante's Inferno. Dante and his guide Virgil enter the second level of Hell, where the souls of people who gave into lust are condemned. At first Dante hears but a faint sound of commotion, but upon fully entering the level he encounters a massive tempest of souls being buffeted about. He recognizes some famous figures here and there. Eventually, his attention is drawn to two figures, the primary one being Francesca da Rimini. She tells of how, after reading of Sir Lancelot, she and her brother-in-law allowed themselves to love each other. Dante, deeply moved by the pathos of Francesca's story and disturbed by the continuous whirlwind, faints.
Composers such as Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky have been inspired by Francesca da Rimini specifically, but The Infernal Whirlwind is more concerned with what the whirlwind itself represents: the control lust and desire held on these souls, both while living and in the afterlife. The central theme is a twelve-tone row, but the work is not truly serialist in construction or conception: It rather represents the winding, ranging, unsettled nature of passion itself, and of the whirlwind.
The piece lasts about 5 minutes, and is for an advanced player. In the beginning it requires use of all three pedals (una corda, sostenuto, sustain). Perhaps the main influence is Liszt, and one could find useful a Lisztian approach to performance. .
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