En forma de cuento / In the form of a story (On a poem by Rafael Alberti)

For low Voice and Piano


Commentary
Text
Download pdf


Commentary


In the form of a story was composed in December 1994 at the request of the mezzo-soprano Mabel Perelstein, to whom it is dedicated. For this I selected a strange poem by Rafael Alberti, published in 1933 in a volume entitled Consignas, with which Alberti begins his stage of "communist poetry", after his affiliation to the party following the proclamation of the Spanish Second Republic in 1931, and his consolidation after his attendance at a congress of anti-fascist writers in the former Soviet Union, and which extends until 1938.

The narration in verse of the progressive entry of misery, oppression, injustice and despotism in the life of a child whose parents are forced to leave him alone every day to go to work, requires a musical treatment of the text with predominance of the recitative, which breaks again and again the few lyrical moments that try to break through the dominant dramatic character.
In the form of a story was premiered by Mabel Perelstein in San Martín de Valdeiglesias (Madrid), on July 17, 1999.




Text

Entonces fue, fue entonces: cuando la ira del pedrisco venció la resistencia de los campos y el Sol achicharró el cadáver del trigo, cuando poco después, ya desde otro corral cantó tu gallo y tu vaca mugió desde otro establo y desde otro redil tus ovejas balaron y se murió tu perro y en otra tierra se clavó tu arado. Entonces fue, fue entonces. El jornal estaba lejos, lejos estaba el trabajo. Dos leguas era el camino y las dos leguas andando. Solo, junto a la ventana, te dejábamos. Si no te arrullaba el viento, te acompañaban los pájaros. Entonces fue, fue entonces: cuando la luna ensangrentaba los vallados y los olivos saliendo de la sombra decían algo y los pastores mataban por el monte los rebaños y de un balazo tu padre se dobló sobre un barranco y yo corría herida por las piedras y los cardos y el usurero que nos robó la sangre y el descanso dormía viendo en sueños nuestros campos. Entonces fue, fue entonces. Estabas solo en la casa, la puerta la derribaron. A registrar -tú dormías- entró un hombre de a caballo. Después, del corral vecino, un cerdo en tu oscuro cuarto. Entonces fue... Negro era, y te devoró la mano. (Rafael Alberti, Consignas, 1933)

Then it was, it was then: when the wrath of the hail overcame the resistance of the fields and the sun scorched the carcass of the wheat, when shortly after, from another corral your rooster crowed and your cow mooed from another barn and from another fold your sheeps bleated and your dog died and your plow was stuck in another land. Then it was, it was then. The wage was far away, work was far away. Two leagues was the way and the two leagues walking. Alone by the window we left you. If the wind didn't rock you, The birds accompanied you. Then it was, it was then: when the moon bloodied the fences and the olive trees said something coming out of the shadow and the shepherds killed the herds on the mountain and with a bullet your father bent over a ravine and I ran wounded by stones and thistles and the usurer who stole our blood and rest slept seeing our fields in dreams. Then it was, it was then. You were alone in the house the door was broken down. To register -you were sleeping- entered a man on horseback. Later, from the neighboring corral, a pig in your dark room. Then it was... It was black, and he devoured your hand.

Download pdf

(Score without watermarks available at www.asesores-musicales.com )