"Sol Negro," by Fernando de Szyszlo, used with permission.
Sol Negro, for 2 Guitars (2014)
after paintings by Fernando de Szyszlo
Total duration ca. 6'30"
Two-movement work:
I. Preludio (Largo)
II. Sol Negro (Largo - Senza Tempo, Drammatico, Feroce)
Premiered in March 2014
in Baltimore, MD
by Eric Meier and Thomas Clippinger
Listen to a recording of the first movement of this work on Soundcloud
Listen to a recording of the second movement of this work on Soundcloud
Audio clip performed by Eric Meier and Thomas Clippinger
Purchase this score and part from
Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) for: $15.00
Fernando de Szyszlo’s paintings have inspired me since 2011, having been the genesis of four pieces of mine to date. De Szyszlo, influenced by Incan artwork and symbolist poets, draws the sol negro image, the black sun “of melancholy,” from a Gérard de Nerval poem. In de Szyszlo’s paintings, the sun hangs ominously: a brooding the first movement expresses, a menace that I attempt to manifest in the second. De Szyszlo’s black sun also touches the Incan image of the apocalyptic black rainbow (another painting title: Arco-iris negro). The second movement takes its tone from this apocalyptic image in a series of bursts of destructive energy that consume even themselves. Sol Negro, composed in 2014, was requested by Tom Clippinger and Eric Meier and is dedicated to Fernando de Szyszlo and to his son, Vicente de Szyszlo.