Iberia! Music from Spain & The Basque Country

Arriaga Overture to Lose Esclavos Felices
Guridi Ten Basque Melodies
Rimsky-Koraskov Capriccio Espagnol
Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
de Falla Suite from The Three Cornered Hat


Overture to Los Esclaves Felices (The Happy Slaves)
– Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga
Born January 27, 1806, in Bilbao, Spain
Died January 17, 1826, in Paris, France

Known as “The Spanish Mozart,” Juan Arriaga was more specifically a Basque composer. His life has many parallels to that of the more celebrated Austrian composer. Both were precocious youths, composing at a ridiculously young age. They composed in many of the same genres – chamber works, symphonies, and choral music. Both composers were born on January 27 and died at a tragically young age; Mozart was 35, Arriaga was only 20. Although not much survives from Arriaga’s output, his music deserves much more attention. Unfortunately, performances are quite rare.

Arriaga’s only opera, Los esclaves felices (The Happy Slaves), was written when the composer was just thirteen years of age. It tells the story of a Spanish aristocrat and his wife who are captured by Moors. After being threatened with death, dishonor, and slavery in a harem, they are saved by their own valor and the intervention of the King of Algiers. Arriaga’s Overture begins with a tender hymn-like theme in the strings that is reminiscent of Mozart, especially in its attention to the delicacies of orchestration. The brisk main body of the work is effervescent and shows the influence of Italian opera buffa style. Woodwinds are entrusted to numerous solo passages along the way. Arriaga’s finale is a delightful romp reminiscent of a Rossini overture.


Diez Melodías Vascas (Ten Basque Melodies)
– Jesús Guridi
Born September 25, 1886, in Vitoria, Alava, Spain
Died April 7, 1961, in Madrid, Spain

The Basque region is located near the Bay of Biscay on the border of France and Spain, and is about the size of Rhode Island. Far more than a geographic region, the area is home to a vibrant and unique culture of artistic, linguistic, and culinary richness. The cities of Bilboa and Pamplona lie within the region. In recent years, a growing movement has gained attention through its demands to secede from Spain and France and form a separate Basque nation.

Basque music is rooted in the folk traditions of the Pyrenees Mountains. The early twentieth century saw several young composers of the classical tradition emerge from the Basque region. One of the most remarkable was Jesús Guridi, who became known as the father of Basque opera. Trained in Paris and Brussels, Guridi drew upon the folk traditions to give his music a unique flavor. His Ten Basque Melodies dates from 1941. Using impressionistic orchestration, this colorful work is comprised of many lively dances and tender melodies, and paints a vivid portrait of Basque music.


Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34
– Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
Born March 18, 1844 near Novgorod, Russia
Died June 21, 1908 near St. Petersburg, Russia

Modern Russian music began with the moguchaya kuchka (the “Mighty Handful”), a group of talented armchair composers comprised of Alexander Borodin (a chemist), Cesar Cui (an engineer), Modest Mussorgsky (a government clerk), Mily Balakirev (the leader and only professional musician), and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (a naval officer). This Nationalist group emphasized Russian subjects in their music, often incorporating folk melodies.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol bears all the hallmarks of stylized Spanish music. The composer wrote, "According to my plans the Capriccio was to glitter with dazzling orchestral color and, manifestly, I had not been wrong."

The opening of Capriccio espagnol erupts forth with the lively Alborada (Daybreak) section. A series of delightful variations follow, all based on a graceful theme in 6/8 meter. The Alborada returns, this time a half-step higher, and an evocative Gypsy Song follows. A steamy Fandango appears, after which the Alborada is restated to close this masterpiece of orchestration with a bang.


Concierto de Aranjuez
– Joaquin Rodrigo
Born November 22, 1901, in Sagunto, Spain
Died July 6, 1999, in Madrid, Spain

Joaquin Rodrigo was probably Spain's most nationalistic composer. Born near the southern Spanish city of Valencia in 1901, he contracted diphtheria at age three, which caused permanent blindness.

Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez is his most popular work, having been in the repertoire ever since its premiere in 1940. Aranjuez is a palace near Madrid that served as a summer home for the Spanish Bourbon kings in the eighteenth century. As a blind man, Rodrigo concentrated on the aspects of Aranjuez that he could perceive, "the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains."

Rodrigo's Concierto opens with a dance-like theme based on the fandango, with its alternation between 6/8 and 3/4 meters. The guitar plays throughout the movement, providing a flamenco atmosphere.

The adagio begins simply with strummed chords, before a lone English horn enters with a melody of solitude and longing. A monumental cadenza allows the soloist to display incredible virtuosity.

The finale begins with a folk-like fandango melody in the guitar. Complete with the expected Spanish guitar fireworks, the movement subsides, ending with a rhythmic whisper.


El Sombrero De Tres Picos
(The Three-Cornered Hat)
– Manuel de Falla
Born November 23, 1876, in Cádiz, Spain
Died November 14, 1946, in Alta Gracia, Argentina

Manuel de Falla was Spain’s foremost composer in the twentieth century. His appreciation of French music, especially Claude Debussy’s Impressionistic techniques, led him to Paris for seven years from 1907 to 1914. One of Falla’s most important contacts in Paris was Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev whose Ballets Russes was quite popular in the city. When World War I broke out, Diaghilev took his troupe to Spain to escape hostilities. It was there that Falla composed The Three-Cornered Hat.

Falla’s ballet drew upon the traditional Spanish comedies (derived from the Italian commedia dell’arte) that featured a jealous miller, his desirable and beautiful young wife, and an oafish and lecherous corregidor (a type of magistrate) whose symbol of authority was his three-cornered hat.

After the premiere of the complete ballet, Falla extracted two suites from the score for concert performance. This performance uses material from both.

The first suite begins with a short introductory flourish. Afternoon occurs as the miller attempts to teach his pet blackbird to imitate the striking of a clock. Dance of the Miller’s Wife is a fandango, complete with shifting 6/8 and 3/4 meters.

From the second suite, the Neighbor’s Dance uses the rhythms of the sultry seguidillas. The Miller’s Dance is a vigorous farruca, the gypsy-flavored Galician dance. The Final Dance is a wild Aragonese jota in which all of the ballet’s musical themes are combined to celebrate the thwarting of the corregidor’s desires.

©2008 Orpheus Music Prose & Craig Doolin
www.orpheusnotes.com