Elliott Carter took the title for his short flute solo Scrivo in vento, which loosely translates as "writing in the wind," from a sonnet by Petrarch. Petrarch's sonnet describes a dream state, in which the dreamer chases breezes, swims oceans and writes on the wind. In describing various dream states in his poem, Petrarch relies on several poetic techniques, particularly extreme contrasts and oxymorons. Carter's rendition of the poem successfully creates a musical approximation of the poet's daring imagery. Scrivo in Vento was written for flautist Robert Aitken in 1991. The composition begins with a haunting, expressive melody, which seems to be slowly unspooling itself when it is interrupted by an aspirated, punchy high C sharp. For the rest of the work, the melody struggles to be heard in between exotic, somewhat violent, interruptions. Sometimes the melody goes for long stretches without interruption, but the threat of interruption hangs over it until the threat is made good; at other times, the melody continues in the guise of single notes before being interrupted by harsh iterations. Yet as Carter plays with flutter-tonguing and other exotic effects, he creates a rough music that nonetheless has beauty about it, and as the flute closes out the work with the melody, the two aspects of the work, scabrous and lovely, have become two sides of the same coin.

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