Danilo Comitini: The Selfish Giant (Oscar Wilde), The Black Cat (Edgar Allan Poe) – Ensemble Tempo Primo

Following in the footsteps of many great composers of the past, who created unforgettable “melologues (melodramas)”, Danilo Comitini investigates two opposing itineraries: from normality to perdition, as embodied by the dark plot of Poe’s The Black Cat, and that from evil and egoism to benevolence and generosity, as found in Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant. The difference between the two texts causes some opposing compositional choices, for instance in the amount of overlap between voice and music found in these two examples. Composer Danilo Comitini employs a language whereby melody is used tonally, but without a sense of nostalgia, while the gradual descent into hell of The Black Cat’s story is embodied by the destruction of both melody and harmony.