Three Lorca Songs (2014)
I. Leave Me Here Crying (Ah!) - 0:15
II. The Giant Mirror - 4:40
III. Ditty of First Desire - 5:45
Federico García Lorca was a Spanish poet who lived a politically active life which eventually led to his assassination when the Spanish Civil War broke out. He trained as a classical pianist and was great friends with artists such as Manuel de Falla and Salvador Dalí, who inspired him to look toward Spanish folklore. Lorca was fortunate in that he had fantastic translators who were able to so beautifully capture the essence of his work. These songs are the direct result of a collaboration between the Guerrilla Composers Guild and Jarring Sounds, and were written and premiered in the winter/spring of 2014 at the Center for New Music. Jarring Sounds was founded as an early music duo and I wanted to write with this in mind. A variety of rhythms, harmonies, and forms are derived from their background, but also with a jazz and folk influence which helps humanize the text.
Performed by Jarring Sounds
www.jarringsounds.com
Danielle Reuter-Harrah, mezzo-soprano
Adam Cockerham, guitar
I. Leave Me Here Crying (Ah!)
The scream leaves on the wind
Its shadow of cypress.
Leave me here in these fields
Leave me here crying.
All has broken in the world,
Nothing remains but silence.
Leave me here in these fields
Leave me here crying.
Bitten by bonfires,
Lightless horizons,
Leave me, I tell you,
In these fields here crying.
- Federico García Lorca
II. The Giant Mirror (4:40)
We live beneath
a giant mirror.
Man is blue!
Hosanna!
- Federico García Lorca
(trans. Jerome Rothberg)
III. Ditty of First Desire
In the green morning
I wanted to be a heart.
A heart.
In the ripe evening
I wanted to be a nightingale
A nightingale.
(Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.)
In the vivid morning
I wanted to be myself.
A heart.
And at the evening's end
I wanted to be my voice.
A nightingale.
Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.
- Federico García Lorca
(trans. Alan S. Trueblood)