Venere e Adone

Continuing his original path in the world of opera, with Venere e Adone (2021) Salvatore Sciarrino revisits a Greek myth – as he did with his first opera, Amore e Psiche (1973) –, although his reinterpretation takes on a different perspective to the classic narrative. This new work, which, not uncoincidentally bears the subtitle Naufragio di un mito [Shipwreck of a myth] – does not focus so much on the love between the  capricious goddess and the supreme shepherd-symbol of beauty, but on the Monster (the traditional boar) who, in Sciarrino’s version, causes the death of Adonis after literally kissing and caressing him to death, after being pierced by Cupid’s javelin – shot by Adonis himself – which aroused in the ‘beast’ an irrepressible impulse of love towards those who have struck him. This is how the jealous Mars carries out his revenge since he is also in love with Venus: by providing Adonis with the fatal arrow through his son Cupid. With one final twist, the monstrous creature and the young hero mutually transform into each other. Who triumphs at this point? Love or death? This is the dilemma facing the author, and in this opera he demonstrates that he has honed his minimalist language, aimed at investigating the border between sound and silence or rather, how to educate to a ‘zero degree’ of listening, through a score that is characterised by the sophisticated use of the voice with plenty of sighs, whispers, and glissando in the context of diffused syllabic song.