Scribd
Upload
29 views1 page

Page 91

The document describes the instrumentation for two sections of a musical work titled "La Célestine". Section II lists percussion instruments and Section III lists percussion and woodwind instruments that will be used on stage. It then provides commentary from the composer on the inspiration and development of "La Célestine" including dividing the source play into tableaux, drawing from film techniques, and the orchestra playing to both set the landscape and double voices in a medieval style.

Uploaded by

Gustavo Alves Sousa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
29 views1 page

Page 91

The document describes the instrumentation for two sections of a musical work titled "La Célestine". Section II lists percussion instruments and Section III lists percussion and woodwind instruments that will be used on stage. It then provides commentary from the composer on the inspiration and development of "La Célestine" including dividing the source play into tableaux, drawing from film techniques, and the orchestra playing to both set the landscape and double voices in a medieval style.

Uploaded by

Gustavo Alves Sousa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

II: xylomarimba, 1 sizzle cymbal, 3 suspended cymbals, 3 gongs, anvil, 2

m’tumbas, 1 tambourine, 2 bongos, 4 woodblocks, 2 stones (struck together), 1


guiro, maracas; + on stage: 2 m’tumbas, 2 bongos, Panduro, 2 standing cymbals.
III: vibraphone II, set of crotales, 3 Chinese cymbals, anvil, 2 stones (struck
together), 3 cymbals on felt, 3 tam-tams, 3 woodblocks, claves, jazzoflute,
double-bass tom, high side drum (tarole); + on stage: 4 tom-toms (A, D, A flat, D
flat), crotale, maracas.
! Publisher: Billaudot, 1993
‘An actor friend had asked me for stage music for La Célestine, which he wanted
to perform in the cathedral square in Salamanca. That was in 1981. It didn’t come
to pass, but I set to reading the play by Fernando de Rojas more closely. It gave
me an impression of vitality: a rapid, almost mad, current ran beyond the plot. I
was fascinated. Gradually, the character of Célestine exerted a sort of seduction
on me—Célestine is magic. And moreover, there was matter there for a theatrical
musical drama, calling on everything, just as I had always sought and wanted.’
‘I divided the play into 9 tableaux rather than into traditional acts. The rhythm of
events is much terser than in opera—it’s almost like film.’
‘The succession of scenes and their nature are akin to those of similar nature that
I admired in certain films.’
‘The processes of articulation and transition of Polanski or Fellini (the latter in
Satyricon and Roma) encouraged me to attempt analogous processes in my
works. Finally, Chaplin and Buñuel sometimes suggested details of humorous
scenes that punctuate nearly all my stage works.’
‘In La Célestine, the orchestra plays a double role: first that of creating a sound
landscape; then, as in mediaeval music, doubling the voices, not only to reassure
them, but to give them an unusual colour through a very intimate blending of
instrument and voice, to the degree that, at times, they merge.’

- 93 -

You might also like