The West in the Labyrinth – Chamber Music for the Theatrical Works of Andrea Panzavolta

It is interesting to note how Andrea Panzavolta’s texts become music, in other words how they are translated into music. It is not, however, a representation of words in music, because Alessandro Spazzoli’s work has no descriptive purpose and does not want to create any correspondence between motifs and chords on one side and objects, emotions and concepts on the other. Deeper still is the relationship established between the two arts, a bond that has to do with their structure, the questions they ask, their relationship with the history of material and thought. For Panzavolta and Spazzoli theatre and music appear to be a way not to escape from reality, but to relate to it, to interpret it. Such a perspective always establishes a connection between past and present, attempting to interpret in a modern way texts, characters or techniques that have been of primary importance for our culture. In this deep link lies the significance of the translation into music of these three plays: it seeks the most intimate sense of the texts, a sense that is embedded in the history of the materials and that reveals problems that are still present.