caravan the flagellation by piero
The religious theme is tied to the present. The ruler is a portrait of the visiting Emperor of Byzantium.[1] Flagellation is also called “scourging”. The term “scourge” was applied to the plague. Outside stand three men representing those who buried the body of Christ. The two older, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea, are believed to be portraits of men who recently lost their sons, one of them to plague. The third man is the young disciple John, and is perhaps a portrait of one of the sons, or else represents both of them in a single idealised figure, coinciding with the manner in which Piero painted angels.
Marilyn Aronberg Lavin
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On the right side, St. Jerome, wearing a purple cloak enhancing his cardinal’s status, is beating his chest with a stone. The character of a warrior with a shiny armour – a medallion on a chain pending from his neck and with a purple cloack clasped on his right shoulder – is quite controversial. It was believed it depicted St. Valerian, protector of Forlì, who can be found in another painting of Palmezzano, nearly the same of this Madonna, but here he is not carrying his usual flag, but a long spear. He could be then St. George, who killed the dragon with its spear, an implied reference to the Naldi family of Brisighella, that a few years before (1514) had given the Palmezzano a commission for another painting, The Adoration of the Wise Men. And the Naldi were Soldiers of fortune, coming from S. Giorgio in Vezzano and Captains of the Brisighelli troops, soldiers with a long spear.
Almost in the centre of the painting, in a frontal position, there’s the Blessed Virgin sitting on a stone, holding the Holy Child on her lap; at his feet, in a kneeling position, one of the Wise Men, with white hair and a flowing beard: he is Kaspar, kissing the foot of the Child, while offering his gift, a golden casket, on a cartouche there is the name of the painter and a date (1514) “Marchus Palmizanus pictor foroliviensis faciebat MCCCCCXIIII”. The Holy Child lovingly gazes at the other two Wise Men, ‘Melchiorre’ and ‘Baldassare’, who, against the tradition, is not a blackman. On the left, St. Joseph can be spotted, old and slightly stooping, leaning on his staff. Behind these figures one can see the marble columns of a rich building, while on the background a cavalcade advances amongst hills, castles, peaks and valleys, together with soldiers, knights and caravans.
• Visit the majestic seaside town of Pesaro, birthplace of Gioachino Rossini, the famous composer of “Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville). Step into his home, now a museum and then stroll around the central square of the San Terenzio Cathedral and the Palazzo Ducale.
• Majestic towns spreading across the hills and valleys and historic medieval villages with great history and beautiful architecture; a fascinating opportunity to explore the magical mainland of Ancona: atmospheric Montefano with its baroque churches; musical Camerano, the capital of the accordion and famous for its musical instruments manufacture since the 19 th century – a fascinating thematic museum awaits the visitor here; marvellous Recanati, the birthplace of Giacomo Leopardi; Filottrano, the heart of traditional men’s tailoring.
Il successivo Moondance (Warner, 1970) ribadi` l’eccellente stagione creativa di Van Morrison. Rispetto a Astral Weeks i brani sono piu` brevi e rilassati, e l’accompagnamento e` piu` organico, compatto e lineare. Le dilatazioni dovute al free-jazz e alla psichedelia sono state bandite a favore di un arrangiamento soul lambiccato e manieristico. L’ensemble di dodici unita` e` meno classicheggiante e piu` rhythm and blues (una “horn section” predomina sulla “string section”).
E` certamente il disco piu` melodico di Morrison, grazie ai ritornelli immortali di And It Stoned Me (cadenza epica di piano, contrappunto romantico di sax), Caravan (un solido boogie sincopato) e Glad Tidings (in cui e` il sax a fare il controcanto melodico). Ed e` anche il piu` jazz, con le atmosfere swinganti di Moondance (per piano liquido, flauto etereo e sax graffiante) e Crazy Love, carezza delicata da night.
Ma il soul “totale” di Morrison si spinge ben oltre e compone capolavori anche in altri contesti armonici, vedi il rhythm and blues nervoso e cadenzato di Into The Mystic, il gospel ritmato e festoso di Come Running, il blues strascicato di These Dreams Of You (con armonica e clavinette, e un assolo jazz di sassofono), la danza classicheggiante di Everyone (clavicembalo barocco e flauto medievale).
A completare queste armonie sospese nello spazio incantato che e` il margine di tutti i generi e di nessuno, fatte di tocchi e di pause, e di struggenti deliri vocali, e` un ritorno di sogno astrale, Brand New Day, schizzo impressionista paradisiaco con soffice nevicata di note.
Piu’ calma ed introversa, l’atmosfera di Moondance non ha nulla dell’incubo soprannaturale di Astral Weeks, e` un fatto tutto sommato piu` musicale e meno personale.
In tutte le canzoni della raccolta l’arrangiamento e` rifinito con cura maniacale, facendo ricorso a una strumentazione estesa, senza lesinare i sostegni vocali del coro femminile, e facendo leva su una sezione ritmica da combo di rhythm and blues. Le composizioni sono sintetiche e concise, quasi lapidarie se si tiene conto della loro complessita’ armonica. Lo stile del cantante e` fluido, sempre intenso e appassionato, teso su un filo emozionale il cui equilibrio non viene mai compromesso ne` da scatti nervosi ne` da deliqui depressi. La canzone progressiva inglese trova qui il suo punto di massima raffinatezza. E Morrison si qualifica come massimo esteta del soul.
Lo stile “perfetto” di Moondance aveva scoperto un compromesso suggestivo fra la musica pop e la musica progressiva. Morrison, adesso residente in California, non era pero` abbastanza acrobata da mantenere l’equilibrio, e negli anni seguenti, almeno fino al 1974, gli esperimenti che si susseguirono furono deludenti. A salvarsi sono alcune canzoni: Domino (uno dei suoi classici numeri rhythm and blues), da His Band And the Street Choir (1970), Tupelo Honey, I Wanna Roo You e Wild Night da Tupelo Honey (1971), album che strizza l’occhio al country e al pop. St Dominic’s Preview (1972), che vantava Bernie Krause al sintetizzatore, fu un lavoro piu` serio, grazie a Jackie Wilson Said (altro classico rhythm and blues) e alle lunghe Listen To The Lion (degna di Astral Weeks) e Almost Independence Day. La cupa Snow In San Anselmo e la lunga Autumn Song non bastano invece a redimere Hard Nose The Highway (1973). Morrison, ora titolare della Caledonia Soul Orchestra, oscillava fra il levigato falsetto di Curtis Mayfield e il rauco shout di Wilson Pickett, unico bianco a poter competere con tali vocalist neri, ma sembrava aver abbandonato il progetto del folk-jazz astratto di Astral Weeks.
Magic Time (Geffen, 2005) does not introduce any new element in Morrison’s astral introspective folk-jazz. His paradigm is unlikely to ever change, and his metaphysical ballads (Magic Time, the waltzing Stranded) seem destined to reenact his personal calvary till the end.
Resources:
http://www.pitchup.com/campsites/italy/marche/pesaro-urbino/urbino/campeggio_pineta/
http://www.brisighella.org/en/discover-brisighella/il-borgo/marco-palmezzano/
http://www.anek.gr/en/destination/ancona/
http://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/morrison.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/primorac.html