Nella Fantasia for a Sunday

A number of years ago, I enrolled in a series of Art and Spirituality workshops taught by a friend -- who is now the woman I work for... Pat, our Community Leader at L'Arche. I hadn't seen her in several years, and was delighted to explore different art forms and meditative practices with her on those evenings at Star of the North Retreat House. Besides recalling the opportunity to reconnect with a special person who had dropped off my radar for a few years, one other thing sticks with me from that time... this song. Pat played Sarah Brightman's version of it, and it so haunted me that I searched it out and purchased a copy of Ms. Brightman's1999 Eden cd so that I can listen to Nella Fantasia now and again.

In looking on the internet for a version for you, I learned a few things about Nella Fantasia... I knew that it was composed by Ennio Morricone for the movie The Mission, but what I didn't know was that it had no words until Sarah Brightman repeatedly bothered Maestro Morricone to make it into something she could sing. Chiara Ferrau wrote the lyrics, and if you've been with me for a while, you know I'm a definite sucker for Italian... If you're curious what it all means, there's an English translation here on Wikipedia. I didn't know its meaning until today because its beauty is meaning enough. The video below is of Chloe Agnew from Celtic Woman -- she has a gorgeous voice that moves my soul like it was the first time I heard the song. Enjoy!