Venetian Songs Op. 22

Venetian Songs Op.22 is a cycle of four songs for High Voice and Piano by Ian Venables, setting the inspiring texts of John Addington Symonds.

Venables has allowed the texts of Symonds' poetry to guide thesesensitive settings, rich in musical imagery to illuminate the words. The music moves between moments of intense anguish and despair to expressions of pure beauty and allusions to the delicacy of nature.

The cycle receivedits first performance in March 1995 at Clifton Hill House, Bristol - formerly the Symonds' family home and now Bristol University's principal Halls Of Residence. The performance was organised as part of the formalcelebrationsmarking the opening of the Gothic Library.