The choice of a prose, rather than poetic, source for a text is a common theme for Argento, who did the same thing in his cycles ''Letters from Composers'', ''The Andrée Expedition'', and ''Casa Guidi''. In each case, he captures the cadence and flow of these more free-form writings without sacrificing musical structure or melodic interest. The composer's original intention was to use excerpts from Woolf's novel ''The Waves'' as the basis for his cycle. But in reading her newly published diaries he discovered a source much richer in musical and expressive possibilities. The highly confessional diary texts illuminate Woolf's inner world in a more immediate way than do her literary works.〔