Prospettiva Nevski - Nevsky Prospekt

Un vento a trenta gradi sotto zero Incontrastato sulle piazze vuote contro i campanili A tratti come raffiche di mitra Disintegrava i cumuli di neve E intorno i fuochi delle guardie rosse Accesi per scacciare i lupi E vecchie coi rosari Seduti sui gradini di una chiesa Aspettavamo che finisse messa e uscissero le donne Poi guardavamo con le facce assenti La grazia innaturale di Nijinskj E poi di lui s'innamorò perdutamente Il suo impresario E dei balletti russi L'inverno con la mia generazione Le donne curve sui telai vicini alle finestre Un giorno sulla prospettiva Nevski Per caso vi incontrai Igor Stravinsky E gli orinali messi sotto i letti Per la notte e un film Di Eisenstein sulla rivoluzione E studiavamo chiusi in una stanza La luce fioca di candele e lampade a petrolio E quando si trattava di parlare Aspettavamo sempre con piacere E il mio maestro mi insegnò Com'è difficile trovare l'alba Dentro l'imbrunire Prospettiva Nevski © 1980 Franco Battiato In "Prospettiva Nevski," Battiato imagines scenes in wintery St. Petersburg in the early 1900s. The second verse references Sergei Diaghilev, the impresario of the Ballet Russes, and Nijinsky, the star of the company, becoming lovers. The film referenced in the third verse is October: 10 Days That Shook the World, by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov, about the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, released in 1928. The "master" referenced in the last lines is Gurdjieff, who lived and taught in St. Petersburg from 1914-1917. Gurdjieff's teachings were among the most influential in Battiato's early studies of spirituality. Here, the dawn represents youth and the capacity to change and evolve, while dusk represents old age.

A wind at thirty degrees below zero, unchallenged on the empty plazas against the bell towers, at times like machine gun gusts, disintegrated accumulations of snow, with all around the fires of the Red Guard lit to dispel the wolves and the old-timers with their rosaries. Seated on the steps of a church, we waited for Mass to end and for the women to leave, then we watched with absent looks the unnatural grace of Nijinsky, with whom then fell deeply in love his manager, along with some Russian dance moves. The winter with my generation, women arched over looms near the windows. One day on Nevsky Prospect by chance I met you, Igor Stravinsky. And the urinals placed under the beds for the night, and a film of Eisenstein on the Revolution. And we studied, closed in a room, the dim light from candle and oil lamps, and when it came to talking we always waited with pleasure and my master taught me how difficult it is to find the dawn inside the deepening dusk. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser Patriots was released in 1980. In the lyrics of this album, there emerge a greater emphasis on irony, the use of foreign languages, and the stringing together of disconnected phrases into montages that may or may not yield meaning upon further analysis, and whose purpose may at times be as much musical as semantic. As is typical with Battiato, there are references to literature, art, philosophy, religion, and music, along with snapshots of personal memories, that form a mix of both high and everyday culture.

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