Dante Gabriel Rossetti

My viola-piano duo is playing a little concert tonight. On the program is a rearranged arrangement of "Silent Noon" by Vaughn-Williams with words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. My favorite line is: Your eyes smile peace. He turns out to be kind of interesting, so I'm posting this while I continue to think about what I want from 2008.


Gabriel Dante Rossetti (1828-1882)
SILENT NOON lyricist
"Mainly remembered as a painter.
During this time, Rossetti acquired an obsession for exotic animals, and in particular wombats. He would frequently ask friends to meet him at the "Wombat's Lair" at the London Zoo in Regent's Park, and would spend hours there himself.
Rossetti described the sonnet form as a "moment's monument", implying that it sought to contain the feelings of a fleeting moment, and to reflect upon their meaning."

His wife overdosed on laudanum and he buried a book of poems with her, but later had them exhumed by his slug of an agent. The poems were harshly criticized and the whole strange episode pushed him deeper into insanity. Addicted to Chloral (one of the chemicals used to make DDT), he eventually died because of it.

Isn't he just perfect for a viola recital?