La stanza vuota op. 8

“La stanza vuota” (or “The empty room”, in English) is a piece for harp and soprano written to the poem of the same name by Alessandra Marangon.

The poem describes the footsteps echo resounding in an empty room, and the memories that those bring back. Memories are distorted by the erratic echo of footsteps, creating bleak thoughts of the past that do not want to be rediscovered.

To try to simulate this echo effect throughout the piece, the harpist hits the soundboard with his hands. The left hand hits the soundboard with the palm of the hand, while the right hand hits it with the knuckles, in a different rhythm.

This variety of sounds and rhythm offers the listener the opportunity to experience the feeling that permeates the entire poem. The irregular sounds of the harp resonate like lost footsteps, sometimes approaching the listener and sometimes leaving, depending on how close the memories feel in that specific moment.

The piece ends with the verse ‘The echo remains’, symbolizing how, despite all efforts not to see or consider those memories carried by the footsteps, the echo does not fade away.

This oxymoron accompanies the listener towards the end of the composition, which concludes with the sound of the footsteps receding, again played by the harpist using the same procedures as at the beginning, but this time in diminuendo instead of crescendo.