This month, 4 short pieces for solo piano inspired by the haunting Soneto 79 from Cien Sonetos de amor, “Tie your heart at night to mine, love”, by the renowned Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). The poem is set out below. It falls within the sub-section of the Cien sonetos entitled "Noche"/ "Night". The structure and harmony of my piece reflect my thoughts and response to the poem which has long been a favourite and in which colour and question, and emotion and desire, fuse in Neruda’s typical and unmatched style. Each song draws on the corresponding verse of the poem in title and expression.
(links to the mp3s and pdfs are on my Main music page)
Soneto LXXIX by Pablo Neruda
De noche, amada, amarra tu corazón al mío
y que ellos en el sueño derroten las tinieblas
como un doble tambor combatiendo en el bosqu
contra el espeso muro de las hojas mojadas.
Nocturna travesía, brasa negra del sueño
interceptando el hilo de las uvas terrestres
con la puntualidad de un tren descabellado
que sombra y piedras frías sin cesar arrastrara.
Por eso, amor, amárrame el movimiento puro,
a la tenacidad que en tu pecho golpea
con las alas de un cisne sumergido,
para que a las preguntas estrelladas del cielo
responda nuestro sueño con una sola llave,
con una sola puerta cerrada por la sombra.
Tie your heart at night to mine, love,
and in dream both will defeat the darkness
like twin drums beating in the forest
against the heavy wall of wet leaves.
Night crossing: black coal of dream
that cuts the thread of earthly orbs
with the punctuality of a headlong train
that pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly.
Love, because of it, tie me to a purer movement,
to the tenacity that beats in your breast,
with the wings of a submerged swan,
So that our dream might reply
to the sky's questioning stars
with one key, one door closed to shadow.
With best wishes
Anna Ferro - November 2014