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This is the second movement of my String Quartet #1.
Flagellazione di Cristo is the title of a painting by Piero della Francesca, one of the most important early contributors to the art of perspective geometry. The left part of the painting, a “praetorium” in which Christ is suffering at the hands of Roman soldiers, is carefully arranged in a series of nested squares which share a diagonal and which are all related by the same proportion (the square root of two). The tile floor, featuring an octagonal design, is remarkable for its realism. The music of this movement draws from several different ideas: a “flagellation” motive of fast pairs of notes, an eerie alternating theme, and a linear, insistent theme which resembles plainchant. The proportions and chords are derived from “nested” intervals or sections, related by the square root of two, while overall there are 8 major sections (drawing from the octagons).
