Federico’s Little Songs for Children (George Crumb)
Written for the Jubal Trio, the work was completed during the summer of 1986. In 1970 after the composition of Ancient Voices of Children (the eighth work of a Lorca cycle initiated in 1963 with Night Music I), I felt that I had exhausted the potential of Lorca’s poetry as a catalytic agent for my own music. I therefore turned my attention towards traditional Latin texts (in Lux Aeterna and Star-Child); and then followed settings of Walt Whitman (in Apparition) and Edgar Allan Poe (in The Sleeper). However, there remained a number of Lorca’s poems which I eventually hoped to treat musically, should inspiration return. Among these, the Canciones para niños (Songs for Children) especially intrigued me, perhaps because the light-hearted and whimsical character of these little poems contrasted so sharply with the more sombre poetry I had chosen for my earlier settings. And thus, after a hiatus of sixteen years, I found myself once again immersed in Lorca’s magical imagery. The seven little poems constituting the Canciones para niños reflect many different aspects of a child’s fantasy world. The mood can be reflective, playful, mock-serious, gently ironic, or simply joyous. At an early stage in the sketching process I decided to include all four instruments of the flute family so that I might associate an appropriate timbre with the innate character of each poem. Of course the varied treatment of voice and harp, together with purely compositional choices (tempi, themes, texture, etc.), likewise help delineate the desired mood. The opening song Señorita of the Fan (Vivace, giocosamente; scored with piccolo) is set for the most part in a quintuple measure. The reference to “crickets” is illustrated by a chirping piccolo motif Afternoon (Andantino quasi barcarola; with flute in C) is delicate and idyllic throughout.A Song Sung (Molto moderato, poco bizzaramente; with alto flute) is set in a very capricious style. The alto flute personifies Lorca’s “Griffon bird”. The central song of the cycle, Snail (Lento, languidamente; with bass flute), projects a sense of timelessness and wonder. The soprano whispers the opening and concluding lines of the poem; for the central portion, the soprano sings in Sprechstimme style combined with a highly coloristic use of the harp. In The Lizard is Crying! (Lentamente e lamentoso; with alto flute) the singer alternates between a quasi-cadenza style of declamation and rhythmically articulated spoken passages. The alto flute participates in a general sobbing! A Little Song from Seville (Tempo di Habanera; scherzando, un poco buffo; with flute in C) parodies a well-known type of Spanish popular music (and contains refers to Debussy’s La Puerta del vino). The concluding piece, Silly Song(Prestissimo [and alternately molto più lento]; with piccolo) is… just a silly song!
George Crumb
Federico Garcia Lorca Canciones para niños
1. La señorita del abanico
La señorita
del abanico
va por el puente
del fresco río.
Los caballeros
con sus levitas
miran el puente
sin barandillas.
La señorita
del abanico
y los volantes
busca marido.
Los caballeros
están casados,
con altas rubias
de idioma blanco.
Los grillos cantan
por el Oeste,
(la señorita
va por lo verde.)
Los grillos
cantan
bajo las flores,
(los caballeros
van por el Norte.)
2. La tarde
La tarde equivocada
se visitío de frío.
Detrás de los cristales,
turbios, todos los niños,
ven convertirse en pájaros
un árbol amarillo.
La tarde está tendida
a lo largo del río.
Y un rubor de manzana
tiembla en los tejadillos.
3. Canción cantada
En el gris,
el pájaro Griffón
se vestía de gris.
Y la niña Kikiriki
perdía su blancor
y forma allí.
Para entrar en el gris
me pinté de gris.
¡Y como relumbraba
en el gris!
4. Caracola
Me han traído una caracola.
Dentro le centa
un mar de mapa.
Mi corazón
se llena de agua,
con pececillos
de sombra y plata.
Me han traído una caracola.
5. ¡El lagarto está llorando!
El lagarto está llorando.
La lagarta está llorando.
El lagarto y la lagarta
con delantalitos blancos.
Han perdido sin querer
su anillo de desposados.
¡Ay, su anillito de plomo,
ay, su anillito de plomado!
Un cielo grande y sin gente
monta en su globo a los pájaros.
El sol, capitán redondo,
lleva un chaleco de raso.
¡Miradlos qué viejos son!
¡Qué viejos son lagartos!
¡Ay, cómo lloran y lloran,
¡ay!, ¡ay!, cómo están llorando!
6. Cancioncilla sevillana
Amanecía
en el naranjel.
Abejitas de oro
buscaban la miel.
¿Dónde estará
la miel?
Está en la flor azul,
Isabel.
En la flor,
del romero aquel.
(Sillita de oro
para el moro.
Silla de oropel
para su mujer.)
Amanecía
en el naranjel.
7. Canción tonta
Mamá.
Yo quiero ser de plata.
Hijo,
tendrás mucho frío.
Mamá.
Yo quiero ser de agua.
Hijo,
tendrás mucho frío.
Mamá.
Bórdame en tu almohada.
¡Eso sí!
¡Ahora mismo!
1. Señorita of the Fan
The señorita of the fan
goes over the bridge,
over the cool river.
The gentlemen
in their waistcoats
look at the little bridge
without railings.
The señorita
of the fan,
with skirts a-flying,
is seeking a husband.
The gentlemen
are already married
to tall blond ladies
of the white language.
Crickets are singing
in the west.
(The señorita walks
through the greenery.)
Crickets are singing
under the flowers.
(The gentlemen
go towards the north.)
2. Afternoon
The mistaken afternoon
was dressed in cold.
Behind the murky window
panes all the children
watch a yellow tree
change into birds.
The afternoon stretches
out along the river.
And a blush of apple
trembles in the roof tiles.
3. A Song Sung
In cold gray
the Griffon bird
was clothed in gray.
And there from little Kikiriki
whiteness and shape
were taken away.
To enter cold gray
I painted myself gray.
And how I sparkled
in the cold gray!
4. Snail
They have brought me a snail.
Inside it sings
a map-green ocean.
My heart
swells with water,
with small fish,
silvery, shadowy.
They have brought me a snail.
5. The Lizard is Crying!
Mr. Lizard is crying.
Mrs. Lizard is crying.
Mr. and Mrs. Lizard
in little white aprons.
Have gone and lost
their wedding ring.
Ah, their little leaden wedding ring,
ah, their little ring of lead!
A large sky without people
carries the birds in its balloon.
The sun, rotund captain,
wears a satin waistcoat.
Look how old they are!
How old the lizards are!
Oh, how they cry and cry,
Oh! Oh! How they go on crying!
6. A Little Song from Seville
Dawn is awakening
in the orange grove.
The little golden bees
are looking for honey.
Where will they find
the honey?
It’s in the blue flower,
Isabel.
In the flower
of that rosemary yonder.
(A little chair of gold
for the Moor.
A chair of brass
for his wife.)
Dawn is awakening
in the orange grove.
7. Silly Song
Mama,
I wish I were silver.
Son,
you’d be very cold.
Mama,
I wish I were water.
Son,
you’d be very cold.
Mama,
Embroider me on your pillow.
That I will!
Right away!
