Vide cor meum (See my heart) is an aria composed by Irish composer Patrick Cassidy based on Dante Alighieri's Vita Nova, specifically on the sonnet A ciascun'alma presa, third chapter.^[1]

Composition

The song was performed by Libera / The Lyndhurst Orchestra, conducted by Gavin Greenaway. The main voices belong to Danielle de Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti who sing some fragments taken from La Vita Nuova, supposedly assembled with no grammatical or syntactic sequence. The result of this technique is, in fact, a heterogeneous but harmonic composition; its lyrics allow the audience to be participant of an extraordinary event: an inner dream and unearthly dialogue, to which Dante Alighieri (in Florentin dialect) and God (in Latin) take part. Amore, Beatrice and Dante's heart are the main topic. So the linguistic "nonsense" becomes pure illusion.^{[citation needed]}

Productions

The song first appeared in the movie Hannibal (2001), while Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Italian Inspector Pazzi see an outdoor opera in Florence, and was specially composed for the movie. This aria was chosen to be performed at the 73rd Oscars in 2001 during the presentation of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial award to producer Dino De Laurentiis and at the 53rd Annual Emmy awards.

It was also used in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005), during King Baldwin IV's death scene and following funeral.

As an homage to the films, the score was used in the final scene of the first and second season finales of NBC's Hannibal.

Releases

Patrick Cassidy's Vide Cor Meum (20th Anniversary Edition)in 2020 - Single by London Symphony Orchestra, London Voices, Ben Parry, Vivica Genaux & Matthew Long by Supertrain Records

Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins releases a version of Vide Cor Meum on her album Music from the Movies (2012) with the Czech Film Orchestra, David Rowland and Rhys Meirion

British vocal group Blake recorded Vide Cor Meum on their first album Blake (2007) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra

English soprano Sarah Brightman recorded Vide Cor Meum for her World Tour Limited Edition bonus track her Hymn (album).

Lyrics