A uno spirituale in Firenze2021 (rev. 2026)

4′30″

• Violin I
• Violin II
• Viola
• Cello

Premiere: 29 October 2021, Serate Musicali, Turin Conservatory

Five aphorisms inspired by excerpts from a letter of the same title (A uno spirituale in Firenze) by Saint Catherine of Siena, addressed “to a devotee who was scandalized by her abstinences.”

The letter appears in the second volume of a collection edited by Niccolò Tommaseo and published by G. Barbèra in Florence in 1860.

1. «[…] e prego Dio e pregherò, che mi dia grazia che in quest’atto del mangiare io viva come le altre creature […]»
   “[…] and I pray and will continue to pray to God to grant me the grace to live, in this act of eating, as other creatures do […]”
2. «[…] e Dio che per singolarissima grazia m’abbia fatto correggere il vizio della gola […]»
   “[…] and God who, through a most singular grace, has allowed me to correct the vice of gluttony […]”
3. «[…] Io per me non so che altro rimedio ponermici, se non ch’io prego voi che preghiate quella somma eterna Verità […]»
   “[…] As for myself, I do not know what other remedy I can apply, except to ask you to pray to that supreme eternal Truth […]”
4. «E io son certa, che la bontà di Dio non spregierà le vostre orazioni.»
   “And I am certain that the goodness of God will not despise your prayers.”
5. «[…] che mi dia grazia, […] che mi faccia prendere il cibo, se gli piace.»
   “[…] that He may grant me the grace […] to partake of food, if it pleases Him.”

A uno spirituale in Firenze is dedicated to the memory of Carla Massini