Pietà [CF:PCB113]

Pietà perfectly embodies the signature neoclassical style of Ulysses Kay, featuring lyricism, contrapuntal textures, clear formal designs and a tonal, yet chromatic harmonic vocabulary. In 1949, Ulysses Kay became the first black composer to win the prestigious Prix de Rome (which he won again in 1951), and it was during his first scholarship in the Eternal City that he composed his Pietà for English horn and string orchestra. The work’s title, meaning mercy or compassion, was perhaps inspired by Michelangelo’s famous eponymous sculpture of the Virgin Mary cradling the crucified Christ, which the composer surely would have seen during his stay in Rome. The piece was dedicated to the Italian oboist Pietro Accaroni, who had premiered another composition by Kay in 1949.