Thomas Adès and the pianto

Though Raymond Monelle ends his survey of the pianto with the music of Wagner, recent writings have illustrated the ongoing presence of the topic in the music of the twentieth century. This paper extends the historical narrative one step further to explore the role of the pianto in the music of Thomas Adès (b. 1971). Although a number of works will be surveyed, specific focus is given to the second movement of his orchestral work Asyla (1997) and his second opera, The Tempest (2004). In both of these works, the symbolic force of the pianto is exploited alongside other topical and intertextual references, demonstrating its development and continued signifying potential in the music of today.