Triorchic Blues takes its title from a rumoured attribute of the castrato Tenducci (one of the models for the castrato Serafino in Gerald Barry's opera The Intelligence Park) that enabled him to surprise his admirers by combining the role of paterfamilias with his operatic career; itsmaterial, however, began as a study for another Barry opera The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit, where it appears, with some appositeness, as an apologia for a life devoted to venery.Apart from its appearance as a coloratura aria in The Triumph, it also exists in versions for solo violin, solo cello and solo piano.