The final lines of Acis and Galatea (poetic verses composed by John Gay, Alexander Pope and John Hughes) read:
Hail thy gentle murm'ring stream,
Shepherds' pleasure, muses' theme,
Through the plains still joyous to rove,
murm'ring still thy gentle love.
While the delights of this poetic imagery were
inspired by John Dryden's English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses that appeared in 1693, we visited the small town of Aci Castello and the coastal Sicilian fishing village of Santa Maria la Scala, where the underground stream is believed to be the transformation of our shepherd Acis.
I made a short video of what Acis'
murm'ring sounds like today. It could be an interpretative key for our tenor!
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| Stefano Vizioli and a traditional Sicilian cart in Aci Castello |
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| Sicilian puppets and a painted scene from Verga's Cavalleria Rusticana |
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| The fishing village Santa Maria la Scala |
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| Santa Maria la Scala |
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| The mouth of the stream Acis |
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| Aci Trezza |
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| The legendary volcanic rocks thrown by the Cyclops at Ulysses (Aci Trezza) |
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