El Sueño de la Muñaquita (The Sleep of the Little Doll)

• Like many of Barrios’s pieces, there is no record of the exact date of this work, but he likely composed it in the 1920s, in Uruguay.¹
• Barrios recorded this work in El Salvador in 1943.²
• This work is a gentle little waltz for guitar.³

“The story associated with the creation of this work states that Barrios visited the home of an admirer and, upon entering, noticed a young girl cradling her doll, gently rocking it to sleep. Mangoré proceeded into the house. He had just bought a new pair of leather shoes that were very ‘squeaky’, making a lot of noise with every step he took. Looking up, the little girl admonished him: ‘Shh! Señor, or you will wake up my dolly!’ The innocence and complete sincerity of the child touched him deeply and he replied, procuring a guitar, ‘I will play a soft melody to help your dolly sleep.’ Thus was born El Sueño de la Muñequita, a delightful waltz of great delicacy, deceptively simple but profoundly expressive.”

Richard Stover, editor of Complete Works of Agustin Barrios Mangore for Guitar Vol. 2 (211) 

1. Rico Stover, liner notes to Barrios Mangoré: Guitar Music, Vol. 2, Enno Voorhorst, Naxos 8.555718, CD, 2003.
2. Agustin Barrios Mangore, Barrios, Complete Works of Agustin Barrios Mangore for Guitar, Vol. 2, ed. Richard Stover (United Kingdom: Mel Bay Publications, Incorporated, 2015), 211.
3. Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Guitar Works of Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Vol. I, ed. Richard Stover (US: Alfred Publishing, ND), 6.