“Valentino’s romantic films were nearly eclipsed
by the strange worldwide hysteria which came after
his sudden and tragic demise…a wake of suicides
(followed) and even riots in the huge crowds which
flooded his lying in state.”
-Program Notes on Dominik Argento’s Suite for Orchestra
from “The Dream of Valentino” by Edward Yadzinski
Lights dim, audience settles, anticipating the Suite,
where bows descend into a sensuous tango,
fluttering the heart of a woman clothed in black silk.
Her flesh is infused with the filmy whiteness of loss,
as her body collapses into the cushion of her seat.
Perhaps she has remembered a love, lost,
who proclaimed beneath a downpour
that he and she were connected at the soul.
Was that the first flutter of her heart and now
this, a paramedic slipping into her row,
the audience remaining transfixed
despite her head’s unconscious bob.
The musicians’ bows sweep and rise
as they witness the drama from above the pit,
their faces move from distracted, to a silent grimness.
Valentino, that tragic actor of romance;
we are deceived, as perhaps he was, fooled
into happiness, to have it carried out on a stretcher
dying, while we, barely conscious, impervious
to the breath that is slipping away,
cling tight to the hope and lie of romance.
Sustained by this music, we deflect our gaze,
unwilling to see the black silk flutter past.
With the invisible wings of an angel,
the conductor gestures, and sweeps the music on.
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