Ode to fortitude (2024) sopr., mezzo, women’s choir and orchestra

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Oda a la Fortaleza (2024) (Ode to fortitude) is a symphonic poem for soprano, mezzo, women’s choir and orchestra based on my own text. This Ode was commissioned by the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès and the Palau de la Música Catalana as an overture before Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The text of the Ode is in Catalan and equivalent to Schiller’s but from a woman’s point of view. The most important phrases of the text – which helped me organize the structure, narrative and dramatic and sometimes epic feeling of the work are the following. The first phrase is “Som persones primer, dones després (We are people first, women second), which appears at the beginning of the work and tells us what the music is about; the soloists and the choir firmly reiterate the word “SOM” (We are) accentuated by orchestral iterations in different registers. The second essential phrase, Endavant sense por! (Forward without fear) is a call to action that appears several times in the work but especially at the end.

The premiere took place on April 6 and 7, 2024, at the Palau de la Musica Catalana

TEXT in Catalan, English (link includes instrumentation also)

 

 

 

 

 

‘Parlen les dones’ for mezzo, SATB Choir and Orchestra – El Cor Canta, March 5, 12:00, 2023 – L’ Auditori de Barcelona; and March 11, at the Auditori Enric Granados, Lerida.

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The Flaming rock (La Roca llameante) for SATB Mixed chorus and String Quartet (2007)

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Duration: 13’22”
Commissioned by the Allegro Chorale & Orchestra Inc. of Midland/Odessa conducted by Nyela Basney.
Premiered by the Allegro Chorale & Orchestra conducted by Nyela Basney and the Cassatt String Quartet on November 17 and 18 in Midland and Odessa, Texas.
New York city premiere by Cantori New York at the Church of the Holy Trinity on March 7, 2009.

PROGRAM NOTES.
TEXT (English and Spanish) of the Flaming Rock.
Live performance by Cantori New York in New York City (3/7/2009)Full Audio

 

Vocal score and string parts

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Study score (letter size 8.5×11)

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Conductor score (large size 11×17)

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Published by Hidden Oaks Music Company.

´Bonna Domna´ a cappella (2001/24)

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Duration: 6’30”

Bona Domna was commissioned by the Palau de la Música Catalana and it was dedicated to the Cor de Cambra del Palau.

This work is based on the original Bona Domna for a cappella choir piece written in 2001 for the Dale Warland Singers. The original 2001 version of the text was in English and Latin; the 2024 version uses the original Occitan language (Old provencal) as well as a middle ages proverb in Latin.

The Cor de Cambra del Palau premiered this 2024 version on April 28, 2024, at the Palau de la Música Catalana.

The 2024 version uses three fragments in the Occitan (Old Provençal) language of the troubadours (Countess of dia b. 1140), Bernart de Ventadorn (1150-1180), Arnaut Daniel (1150-1210), and a popular proverb from the middle ages in Latin.

Bona Domna translates as “good lady” in the Occitan language, a word that embodies the essence of “courtly love,” a romantic relationship between two single people in medieval times. These romantic relationships were not physical, but were based on flirting, dancing and the chivalrous efforts of knights and other young nobles to win the favor of the ladies of the court. The texts chosen for Bona Domna reflect the role that women had in the society of the time. Common women could marry or become nuns (“a woman should have a husband or a wall” – a popular Latin proverb). Privileged women were adored by knights as objects of unattainable love, and served them as if they were lords (“to be in love is to go to heaven through a woman” by Arnaut Daniel) (“¡Madam for your love I join my hands in adoration!” by Bernart de Ventadorn). However, some privileged women were themselves trobairitz, such as the Countess of Día. A selected excerpt from her chanson ‘A chanter m’er’ is written from the point of view of a woman who sings of the pride and contempt of her male lover.

Occitan/Catalan text