Goyescas

Composer: GRANADOS, Enrique
  • Written between 1909-12, Goyescas (meaning “Goya-esque”) is a piano suite containing six pieces published between two books. This suite is arguably Granados’s best-known work.1
  • Goyescas was inspired by the artwork of Spanish painter Francisco Goya and his ability to capture the essence of Spanish character. Granados affirmed that Goya was “the representative genius of Spain.”
    • BOOK 1
      1. “Los requiebros” (The Compliments) – inspired by Tal para cual from Goya’s Los caprichos.
      2. “Coloquio en la reja” (Conversation at the Window)
      3. “El fandango de candil” (Fandango by Candlelight)
      4. “Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor” (Complaints or the Maiden and the Nightingale)
    • BOOK 2
      1. “El Amor y la Muerte” (Love and Death) – inspired by El Amor y la Muerte from Goya’s Los caprichos.
      2. “Epilogo: Serenata del espectro” (Epilogue: Serenade to a Specter)2
  • Granados later wrote a one-act opera (also called Goyescas) using melodies from the piano suite. The opera premiered in 1916.3 The Intermezzo from the opera is frequently performed as a stand-alone piece.

Sources

  1. Mark Larrad, “Granados (y Campiña), Enrique,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed September 21, 2022, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011603.
  2. Walter Aaron Clark, Essay in accompanying booklet, Granados: Goyescas / Escenas Poéticas performed by Joop Celis, BIS 2122, 2015, compact disc.
  3. Mark Larrad, “Granados (y Campiña), Enrique,” Grove Music Online.

Cut IDs

41051 49582 24554 45358 15338 24322