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The following passage from
Plutarch was my clue to the character of April:
"... and April, named from Venus, or Aphrodite, his second month; in
it they sacrifice to Venus, and the women bathe on the calends, or first
day of it, with myrtle garlands on their heads. But others, because of its
being p and not ph, will not allow of the derivation of this word from
Aphrodite, but say it is called April from aperio, Latin for to open,
because that this month is high spring, and opens and discloses the buds
and flowers."
Furthermore, Flora, goddess of flowers and springtime and the wife of the
west wind, Zephyr was celebrated with her festival, the Floralia, in April
and May. The possibility of portraying in sound the process that comprises
the opening of a flower bud as it unfolds from seed to blossom intrigued
me and presented an interesting challenge. I cannot discount the influence
that the insidious and lovely Venus occasionally brought to me while at
the forges of my compositional efforts. |