Transformations of the Heart is a fantasy on Orlando di Lasso’s sixteenth-century chanson for four voices, “Mon coeur se recommande à vous.” My work begins with an anachronistically romantic orchestral setting of the chanson, whose substance is thereafter gradually altered, and these transformations further transformed, leading the listener gently but indisputably into the twentieth century.
I have tried to incorporate in my music the spirit of lyricism, tenderness, and sweet rueful amorousness that pervades the Lasso work, as well as the energy created when two men and two women meet in their leisure to sing four-voice love songs. Transformations of the Heart is a one-movement piece of about 12 minutes’ duration, a tribute to Lasso, to making music together, to love.
MON COEUR SE RECOMMANDE À VOUS
Mon coeur se recommande à vous,
Tout plein d’ennui et de martyre;
Au moins en dépit des jaloux
Faites qu’adieu vous puisse dire!
Ma bouche qui savait sourire
Et conter propos gracieux
Ne fait maintenant que maudire
Ceux qui m’ont banni de vox yeux.
My heart, all full of ennui
And martyrdom, begs you,
In spite of jealous souls,
At least to say adieu.
My mouth that once could smile
And chat with grace
Now can only curse those
Who have banished me from your eyes.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Commissioned and premiered by
New York Chamber Symphony
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Kaufman Auditorium
92nd Street Y
New York, 1987
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Jesús López-Cobos, conductor
Music Hall
Cincinnati, 1989
Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston
Boston Chamber Music Society
Pascal Verrot, conductor
Jordan Hall
Boston, 1991
MSM Philharmonia
Glen Cortese, Conductor
Borden Auditorium
Manhattan School of Music
New York, 1996