Charles Alan Sylvestri's poem "Leonardo Dreams of a Hidden Flying Machine" is a dramatic story of hope and optimism that takes the listener on a great adventure into the great unknown. Leonardo functions as the agonist of the poem, “tormented” by his need to fly and touch the sky. Finally, after much planning and determination, Leonardo takes a great leap of faith with his flying machine and his dreams of flight are consummated! In order to fully summarize Leonardo's conquest of the almighty heavens, it would be entirely appropriate for the text to be edited in its entirety. orchestra accompanied by a SATB choir. It is the only combination of instrumentation and singing that will fully capture the dramatic story of the piece (with the exception of a Wagnerian musical drama). A full orchestra is a wonderful medium that can be used to express the full range of emotions embodied in the poem because of the breadth of orchestral timbre. Along with the orchestra, a four-person choir is ideal for the lyrical expression of the poem because of the wide range of notes that can be sung by the soprano, bass, and everyone in between. The parts of the poem sung by the full choir would be performed in an imitative polyphonic texture using malismas on the repeated line “Leonardo, Leonardo, viene á volare” to emphasize that this line is a “mermaid song” sung by “Leonardo, Leonardo, viene á volare” the air itself. However, the majority of the text would be sung by the tenor to give the piece a narrative quality, with the rest of the chorus stepping in for the Italian parts. This will serve to highlight the contrast between English and Italian that Sylvestri creates in his poem. It seems appropriate that the orchestra and choir perform a fully composed composition with a change of music for each piece...... middle of paper ......ings that can be seen in the use of paint of words in the first stanza on the words “flight and fall” and “carry a man to the sun”. Although the similarities between the pieces are fleeting, both are able to leverage imitative polyphony and word painting to tell the same story in very unique and different ways. In conclusion, the poem “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine” by Charles Alan Sylvestri can be set to music in very different ways to emphasize different aspects of the plot. The first text described describes a dramatic story of Leonardo conquering his dreams of escape (or so it seems), and the second, by Eric Whitacre, tells the same story in a less dramatic and more ethereal style. This text provides a great example of how musical setting can completely change not only the listener's experience, but also the story itself..