SONATA, a recital composed by Ross Birrell and performed by members of the Da Vinci Trio and the Avos Quarter, taking place at the Non-Catholic Cemetery Rome, Sunday 5 May, 18.00.

SONATA is a composition for piano, cello and violin based upon the speech, poems and letters of three poets buried in the Non-Catholic Cemetery: the English Romantic poets John Keats (1795-1821) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and the US Beat Poet, Gregory Corso (1930-2001).

As with traditional sonata form, the composition is in three movements:

I - Lift Me Up For I Am Dying

The first movement is an evolution of the composition, Lift Me Up For I Am Dying based upon the last spoken words of Keats, recorded in a letter by his friend Joseph Severn (later buried next to Keats). Lift Me Up For I Am Dying was originally commissioned in 2010 by the Swiss Institute in Rome as part of the exhibition Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession) curated by Adam Szymczyk and Salvatore Lacagnina and was performed on viola by Giorgia Franceschi at Keats’ graveside on Sunday, 9 May 2010.

II - Adonais - Adagio

The second movement is based upon lines from Shelley’s long poem of lament, Adonais, An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc. (1821). Shelley, who had also lived in the house on Piazza di Spagna in which Keats died, considered Adonais to be among his best compositions. When Shelley drowned in the Bay of Spezia he was found with a volume of Keats’ poems in his shirt pocket.

III - Letters from Rome

The final movement is based upon three letters written by Corso upon a visit to the graves of Keats and Shelley in the Non-Catholic Cemetery on the anniversary of Keats’ birthday in 1958. Corso’s letters were addressed to his fellow beat poets: Phillip Whalen, Allen Ginsburg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Corso’s ashes were buried at the foot of Shelley’s grave in the Non-Catholic Cemetery on 5 May 2001.

Sonata will be performed by members of the DaVinci Trio, Glasgow and Avos Quartet, Rome:

Violin: Tony Moffat, Leader of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera

Cello: Robert Irvine, Head of Chamber Music at the Royal Conservatoire, Scotland

Piano: Mario Montore, Leader of the Avos Quartet, Rome

The recital, which will be recorded on film, will be preceded by an introduction by Adam Szymczyk, Director of Kunsthalle Basel.

Ross Birrell’s exhibition, Duet, is at Keats-Shelley House, Piazza di Spagna, 26, 13 May - 6 September 2013.