Geoffrey Gordon's fantasia in three movements for string orchestra, An Imagined Poussin Triptych, is inspired by the paintings of Nicolas Poussin and the madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi. Below is the program note from the premiere, given by the Riverside Symphony and conductor George Rothman, in March, 2004. Born a peasant in Normandy, France, in June of 1594, painter Nicolas Poussin would found and one day be regarded as the greatest practitioner of 17th century French classical style. He studied painting in Paris and perhaps also Rouen. In 1624 he went to Rome, where, except for an 18-month sojourn in Paris from 1640 to 1642, he lived for the rest of his life. His work symbolizes the virtues of logic, order and clarity, and it has influenced the course of French art up to the present day. Poussin's belief that art should appeal to the mind as well as to the eye—that it should present the most noble and serious human situations in an orderly manner and without trivial detail—became