projects

Anatra al sal
New production as Action concert piece (2014)
Arrangement by Ermanno Cavazzoni for spoken voice and vocal ensemble
Text by Ermanno Cavazzoni
Production: Angelica Festival
First performance of the new version: 9-2014, Angelica Festival, Bologna
Ermanno Cavazzoni (voice), Ready Made Ensemble, Gianluca Ruggeri (conductor)
Publisher: Durand
Duration: ca 50 m

Anatra al sal is inspired by the late XVIth Century Italian tradition of “madrigal rappresentativo”. Both agogic realism and theatrical characterization of every voice contribute to create a short theatrical work, based on the discussion of some cooks about how to cook a duck.
The sequencing and timing of the dialogues maintains the dramatic atmosphere in which the rhythms naturally change between accelerando (during quarrels) and rallentando (during rejoicing).
Five out of six parts have a single-vowel text, employing a rhetorical figure often seen in XVIth century poetry. The single-vowel speech underlines the intentional comic effect and intensifies the tone structure of every single character.
The bass plays the role of the most important and famous cook in the group. He quotes only Latin cook books, speaking Latin, just to comment in a short and sarcastic way and using only the “U”.
His assistant and interpreter is a soprano part. She freely and poetically translates the severe remarks of the bass. This is the only voice free from the single-vowel cage and is intended as a fil-rouge among voices and vowels.
The writer is on the stage together with his characters and moderate the debate asking for selective performances of fragments and adding improvised spoken dialogue with the cooks.