When embellishments get out of hand
And threaten to eat through even the cadenza,
All over the melody swarming in a frenzy,
Fleas of the Baroque con forza or senza
Breed in partituras where they land.
Improvisations — even before they climb
In variations over and under each leaf,
Pull in their lines, and strangle the motif —
Have hung their deadly weights one drop at a time.
But every concert contradicts a diagnosis
And proves blood’s inability to tell apart
The parasites of symphony and symbiosis,
The passages and pathogens of art.
Con forza – In musical notation, Italian for “with force.”
Senza – Italian for “without.”
Partitura – In music, a full score.
“Feast in the Time of Plague” – This title (“Pir vo vremya chumy” «Пир во время чумы») was created by Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799‑1837) for a short drama in blank verse that he wrote in 1830. Pushkin based his work on a scene from “The City of the Plague,” a blank verse drama written in 1816 by English poet John Wilson (1785‑1854). Pushkin’s verse drama was in turn the inspiration for the opera “A Feast in Time of Plague” written in 1900 by Russian composer Cesar Cui (1835‑1918).