The main element and real novelty of the Cassino Historiale is the inclusion of the soundtrack – curated by musician Rosella Clementi – which accompanies the visitor from the first to the last room, and which includes author’s musical pieces, original unpublished compositions, vocal repertoire and sound effects, modulated on the basis of the narrative thread and the themes developed.
A crescendo of harmonies played on the thread of emotion, a journey that goes from war themes to those of rebirth, with the intention of completely “immersing” the visitor in the atmosphere of the exhibition.
THE MUSICAL EXCERPTS
A fragment from the first movement of Gorecky’s Symphony No. 3 kicks off the tour in the Historiale. A choice inspired by the strong sacredness of the area, linked to Saint Benedict and the Abbey of Montecassino. A devotional and at the same time lyrical piece on which strong and stormy sounds are inserted, underlining the violence and destruction suffered by these places over the centuries.
The events of the Second World War are heralded by fragments of the third movement of Symphony No. 7 and the first movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, with their strong, martial and at the same time deeply painful tones.
The epicentre of the narrative, represented by the bombing of the Abbey of Montecassino, is accompanied by the power of Verdi’s Dies Irae to describe choirs of persistent screams amidst the falling bombs, no longer human pleas, but the wrath of God.
After the devastation, silence: the 4th movement of Malipiero’s Sinfonia delle campane echoes in the stillness of desolation and destruction. A strong sense of the ‘uprooting’ experienced by the population, who no longer have a home or land, emerges.
The national anthems of the military forces involved in the Second World War swirl together with the flags of the ‘Forces in the Field’ to illustrate the cold
military strategies in the central part of the display.
It is a Babel of sounds, which renders even better than words the variety of nations involved.
The first movement of Britten’s War Requiem accompanies the narration of two graduates
of the German and American armies who explain the military and strategic choices made during the war.
The music of the first movement of Malipiero’s Sinfonia delle campane, introduces the poignant, melancholic and at times desperate atmosphere of those who experienced the dramatic devastation first-hand.
L’emigrazione (Emigration), a specially composed original piece by Rosella Clementi, also describes the feelings of the survivors: the hope of leaving, of abandoning everything, of starting a new life, and at the same time the anguish of having to abandon one’s own land, one’s loved ones, one’s own homes, even if they were destroyed.
The notes of La ricostruzione (The Reconstruction), another original piece by Clementi, draw – through the movements of some young dancers, protagonists of the final video that concludes the journey – the continuous effort, commitment and dreams that sustained the desire for the reconstruction and rebirth of a new Europe, of a new world.
VOCAL REPERTOIRE AND SOUND EFFECTS
The loud diffusion of the original voices of the protagonists of the events narrated,
to which the musical pieces sometimes act as counterpoint, sometimes as background, is used to
immerse the visitor even further into the events recounted and the atmospheres evoked.
The effect is that of a total immersion in another world and another time: the
The effect is that of total immersion in another world and another time: the spectator becomes the protagonist himself, experiences a very intense emotional involvement, feels part of the story.
intense, he feels part of the story.
A few examples: the voices of Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler, overlaid by a carpet of inexorable military marches, are used to ferry the visitor from the First to the Second World War the words of General Badoglio proclaiming the armistice mark the interruption of the relentless fury of war. But immediately breaking the fragility of the illusion are the incessant announcements of Radio Bari, accompanied by urgent and pressing percussion that evoke the reality of imminent battles distant moans and sounds of pulling, twisting and distorting, like those of a chain strangling a very old olive tree, surviving the centuries and storms, never won except by the obstinacy of the man who uproots it from its land, evoke the uprooting of the population at the end of the war.