FROM RUSSIA TO SPAINIntermezzo from spanish Opera GOYESCAS:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r15UJA2Ee9M (orchestral version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDf3Vr9np-Y (cello/piano version)
Now, something about GOYESCAS:Opera: one act and three scenes.
Libretto (texts): Fernando Periquet.
Music: Enrique Granados.
Premiered in Metropolitan Opera Hose of New York, 28-January-1916.
Inspired and includes melodies from initial
Piano Suite Goyescas from 1911, by Granados.
Opera and suite both inspired on tapestries that were done on Goya cartoons.
(
Goya’s cartoons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fr ... y_cartoons )
The Intermezzo of opera has became in an separated music concert piece so popular that it is played at many instrumental versions.CHARACTERS:
Rosario: Lady in high social ranking, Fernando’s lover.
Pepa: Tonadilla singer, Paquiro’s lover. (Tonadilla is a popular spanish song).
Paquiro: famous torero, Pepa’s lover.
Fernando: Captain in Royal Guard, Rosario’s lover.
SYNOPSIS:
FIRST SCENE
The opera opens with a crowd of majas and majos enjoying a holiday on the outskirts of Madrid. Some of the majas are engaged in the popular pastime of tossing the pelele (a man of straw) in a blanket. Paquiro the toreador is paying compliments to the women. Pepa, his sweetheart of the day, arrives in her dogcart. Popular, she is warmly welcomed. Soon Rosario, a lady of rank, arrives in her sedan-chair to keep a tryst with her lover, Fernando, a captain in the Royal Spanish Guards. Paquiro reminds her a baile de candil (a ball given in a room lit by candlelight) which she once attended. He invites to go again. Fernando overhears his remarks. His jealousy is aroused. He informs Paquiro that Rosario shall go to the ball, but that he, Fernando, will accompany her. He extracts Rosario’s promise to go with him, while Pepa, enraged by Paquiro’s neglect, vows vengeance upon her.
SECOND SCENE
It shows the scene at the ball. Fernando appears with Rosario. His haughty bearing and disdainful speech anger all present. The two men arrange for a duel that evening, and when Rosario recovers from a swoon, Fernando takes her away.
THIRD SCENE
It reveals Rosario’s garden. Fernando visits her before keeping his appointment with Paquiro. When a bell strikes the fatal hour, Fernando tears himself away. He is followed hesitatingly by Rosario. Soon the silence is broken by a cry from Fernando, followed by a shriek from Rosario. The lovers reappear. Rosario supports Fernando to a stone bench where he dies in her arms.
ABOUT COSTUMES:
As you see again, in Spanish music, toreros, popular music, love and jelousness.
But this is a so romantic, stylized and idealized vision of this universe.
So, I would not use a torero inspired suit. I think is better to use a suit in stylized form of “goyesco style” or even something like an abstract idea, like a dream of Goya’s universe.
Piano Suite GotescasBook 1
1. Los Requiebros - The Complimets
2. Coloquio en la Reja - Conversation at the Grille
3. El Fandango del Candil - The Oil Lamp Fandango
Book 2
4. Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor - Complaints or the Maiden and the Nightingale
5. El Amor y la Muerte: Balada - Love and Death: a Ballad
6. Epílogo: Serenata del Espectro - Epilogue: Specter's Serenade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3V57y1bx8AI'll be back with more Spanish Suites...