Il Dolce Suono Painting by Ezra Enzo

Painting: Oil on Canvas.

This painting was inspired by and titled after the famous Italian aria from Donizetti's opera, Lucia di Lammermoor, "Il Dolce Suono." The story is a classic tale of star-crossed lovers, except through force and abuse, Lucia is made to marry another man. On their wedding night, she cannot bear the pain any longer, so in a moment of insanity, Lucia kills her newlywed husband. Covered in his blood and under a trance of madness, she sings tragically of love and happiness in one of the most difficult arias ever written. The painting uses the musical tropes at play– a tension between dark and light, between the minor key of blood and death, and the major key of love and illusion.