Vidi madonna sopra un fresco rio

Vidi madonna sopra un fresco rio for soprano and string quartet (or string ensemble) is the second part of a cycle of pieces based on Lorenzo de Medici’s Canzoniere, which began with Io seguo con disio.
Dedicated to violist Françoise Gnéri, this piece, whose title translates as Je vis ma dame près d’un frais ruisseau (I saw my lady near a cool stream), consists of a sort of string ritornello to which the soprano adds her ornamentation in textless vocalizations. The first stanza of the poem recounts the memory of the poet’s vision of this lady, in a kind of intimate, delicate musical prayer. When the poet evokes her departure, then associated with the decline of the sun, the song dissolves until the final phrase, like a very painful sob: “Ah, in this world happiness lasts so little But the memory remains for a long time”.
The work can be performed by either a string quartet or a string ensemble. For the latter version, solo and tutti indications indicate the passages to be played only by one instrument per voice.
Benoît Menut