Canciones de Santanyí (Sobre poemas de Bernat Vidal i Tomàs) / Songs of Santanyí (On poems by Bernat Vidal i Tomàs)

Para High Voice and Organ


Commentary
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Commentary

There are works that are born with a specific purpose that, from the very beginning, determines every stage of their creation, preparation, and premiere. Such is the case of this song cycle, whose entire conception is closely linked to the Mallorcan town of Santanyí, taking as its starting point the beautiful and evocative poems of the Santanyí-born poet Bernat Vidal i Tomàs (1918–1971). These poems serve as the foundation for a work written for high voice, to be accompanied by the marvelous Baroque organ built by Jordi Bosch in 1762, housed in the Church of Sant Andreu in Santanyí. And, as could hardly be otherwise, a work tailor-made for such a magnificent instrument and based on poems by a brilliant and sensitive local writer could not have a better title than Songs of Santanyí.

Having received the commission to compose this work from the Festival's director, Miquel Estelrich, I accepted the challenge. Once I had in my hands a substantial selection of poems by Bernat Vidal, I spent several weeks reading and internalizing them, until arriving at the definitive choice of the five that would be set to music for this song cycle. The collection opens with the piece entitled Variacions sobre un tema de García Lorca ("Variations on a Theme by García Lorca"), for which a brief instrumental introduction allows the full sonic power of Jordi Bosch's organ to unfold -including the impressive bombarde pedal stop, unique in the world- alternating thereafter with contrasts that, like the poem itself, range from the intimate to the melancholic.
The second movement, Mobila, recreates the lullaby-like character of the text, sung over an accompaniment whose almost perpetual motion in semiquavers evokes the prolonged rocking that helps the poem's protagonist drift into sleep. Aquesta décima, the third song, gives the voice the entire spotlight, while the organ confines itself to marking the separation between each of the ten verses through a melodic design in the left hand on the lower register, beginning with a single note and progressively adding one at a time until a total of ten are reached in the final interjection.
The fourth movement, Poemet amb números i estels ("Little poem with numbers and stars"), though beginning and ending with a good dose of humor, uses this merely to frame a central section filled with melancholy -an emotional state that reaches its height in the final song, Final d'estiu ("End of Summer"), a classical sonnet whose form inspires that of the music. Here, the voice attains its greatest melodic expressiveness, leading naturally to a brilliant conclusion that recaptures the sonic splendor of the opening, this time shared by both organ and voice.
Songs of Santanyí were composed in Madrid between March and April 2025. Dedicated to Miquel Estelrich, they were premiered by tenor Antoni Lliteres and organist Esther Ciudad on October 25, 2025, at the Church of Sant Andreu, as the closing work of the 13th "Vila de Santanyí" International Music Festival.



In November 2025, the Canciones de Santanyí were published by the Vila de Santanyí International Music Festival. The cover illustration is Cala Figuera, an acrylic on paper created in 2025 by the painter Jesús Camargo.

Vídeos

Video of the premiere: Parish Church of Sant Andreu de Santanyí, October 25, 2025 Antoni Lliteres (tenor) and Esther Ciudad (organ) I. Variacions sobre un tema de García Lorca

II. Mobila

III. Aquesta décima

IV. Poemet amb números i estels

V. Final d'estiu

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