Le ciaramelle

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Text: Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912)

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Pastorale for Unaccompanied SATB Chorus

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Duration: 4 mins approx.

 

 

Composer's Note

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Le ciaramelle (The bagpipes) sets part of a poem of the same name by Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912). Pascoli’s poem recounts his impressions of hearing Sicilian shepherds playing bagpipes at Christmastime: a centuries-old, Southern Italian tradition, which also inspired the ‘Pifa’ of Handel’s Messiah. My carol draws upon my own experiences in Sicily, deriving its harmony from recordings of church bells that I made in Palermo, and in the seaside town of Terrasini, on and around Christmas Day in 2019.

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Le ciaramelle was commissioned by the Chorus of Opera North and premiered on 14th December 2023 in Dewsbury Town Hall, conducted by Garry Walker.

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