The Man Who Loved Islands (2004)
The Man Who Loved Islands for
narrators (from one to three) and piano, was written in 2004 to be
performed in some American colleges where Riccardi was in residence.
The work was performed by faculties and students of the host
universities.
SYNOPSISThe Man Who Loved Islands
tells the story of a man who, tired of civilization, decides to move to
an island and make it a small perfect world, a world in his own image
and likeness. The man seems to be happy, at least during the day, but
his nights are crowded with ghosts foretelling misfortune. His hired
hands, under a guise of respect, see the hostility and plot fraud. Soon
he realizes they have all swindled him. He is bankrupt and forced to
move. Instead of returning to the mainland, he goes to an even smaller
island
with the companionship of few trustworthy people. Nothing in
particular seems to happen, so he wonders whether a lack of desire is
the true happiness. But one day this calm is also shaken. A woman who
has followed him succeeds in attracting his attention. He lets himself
enter into a passive relationship without enthusiasm, nothing that
resembles the ideal meeting of two souls when there is a “true,
delicate desire between them.” This relationship, endured and not
really wanted, besmirches and spoils this
second island. He grows uneasy and has to leave it. He goes straight north to a third
island---just
a few acres of rock with a hut, and inhabited only by a half dozen
sheep. At last he is alone. He can no longer bear contact with the
living. Near the end of winter a snowstorm strikes and lasts for days.
The man struggles desperately against the fury of the elements…
