György Ligeti | Métamorphoses Nocturnes

“My soul would sing of metamorphoses. But since, o gods, you were the source of thesebodies becoming other bodies, breathe your breath into my book of changes: may the song I sing be seamless as its way weaves from the world's beginning to our day.”  Ovid, Metamorphoses Featured image is a collage by Marie H. Sirois [...]

Jean Cocteau | Orpheus

“Mirrors are the doors through which Death comes; look long enough in a mirror and you will see Death at work.” Orpheus a 1950 French film directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Jean Marais. It is the central part of Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, which consists of The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1960). Over the course of thirty years, [...]

Richard Strauss | Metamorphosen

 « Rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd, tout se transforme. » (Lavoisier) Metamorphosen  is a composition by Richard Strauss for 23 solo strings : ten violins, five violas, five cellos, and three double basses, typically lasting 25 to 30 minutes. It was composed in the last days of WWII. Strauss saw the world he knew in ruins around him. Germany was occupied by [...]