Amor
Besides being a painter, sculptor, and architect, Michelangelo was also a productive poet, leaving over 300 poems for those of us enamored with his creative spirit to examine in efforts to understand the man behind the art.  When given the opportunity to write a work for Denison University’s 2006 tour of Italy, I chose Michelangelo’s Amor.  I was struck by his passion and his images in his text and felt that a choir and string setting could capture its mood.

Text: 
Amor, la tuo beltà non è mortale:
Nessun volto fra noi è pareggi
L'immagine del cor, che 'nfiammi e reggi
Con altro foco e muovi con altr'ale.

Love, your beauty is not a mortal thing:
There is no face among us that can equal
The image in the heart, which you kindle and sustain
With another fire and stir with other wings.

Translation by James M. Saslow, from The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation. Copyright © 1993 by Yale University Press.  Reprinted with permission.


Amor

Premiere performance of TRIP/TIC by the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, Antoine Clark, director.

Program Notes: Program notes


Who are we? Our identity consists of not only our experiences, but also the history of our parents and their parents. The events of their lives shaped their view, and as they raise their children, their history gets woven into life’s lessons handed down from generation to generation. My story spans three countries and dual cultures that have impacted my life before I even existed. World War II impacted my grandparents’ lives, transported them to a new country which affected my parents’ childhood. My parents’ desire to explore and grow brought them to the United States. And now I was raised in Iowa City, Iowa, in an abundance of cultural history and new discoveries. Among one of my earliest memories is a Chinese folk song, Kangding Love Song. 

TRIP / TIC is about journeys and influences. What does it mean to be Asian American? Is there a dominant culture? Is Chinese inspired music or “Copland-esque” music more “authentic” when talking about my identity? Or am I immersed in both, so that a new synthesis occurs?

Amor

Ching-chu Hu

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