Dilexi
Story of Galla Placidia in seven scenes
chamber opera for soprano, baritone, choir and ensemble
text Francesca Masi
music Danilo Comitini
Coro & Ensemble 1685 del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Ravenna
conductor Antonio Greco
commissioned by Ravenna Festival
Galla Placidia, born in the Ancient World and deceased in the Middle Ages, is evoked through seven episodes, seven thinking hearts, seven different cities: Milan, where she mourns at the funeral of her father Theodosius, celebrated by Bishop Ambrose; then Rome, Barcelona, Ravenna, Constantinople, and back to Ravenna, where she feeds on the words of Bishop Peter Chrysologus, then in Rome again, where she concludes her wandering life at the court of Pope Leo the Great, clutching her young son. The narrative, articulated in seven tableaux separated by silent pauses, begins with the last word uttered by Galla’s father: Dilexi, “I have loved”. The seven scenes are sung by the choir, to which the seven last words of Christ on the cross are entrusted. Symbolically, the concert takes place in the Church of St John the Evangelist, which Galla built in fulfilment of a vow she had made when she was in danger of being shipwrecked on her way back from Constantinople.
