LECTURE RECITAL

In Defense of Melody: The Art Song Oeuvre of Spanish Composer

Antón García Abril (1933-2021)

From the Concert Series

Lyric Journey Through the Spanish Solo Vocal Repertoire:

“Spanish Art Song from the XX and XXI Centuries”

ADRIANALÍA ARBELÁEZ - MOUTZ

Soprano

NAN Mc SWAIN

Piano

The performance and study of the Spanish art song in the United States has been limited to a small number of composers from the first half of the twentieth century, among them Falla, Turina, Granados, Rodrigo, Mompou, Toldrá, and Montsalvatge. Yet, there are a considerable number of prominent Spanish composers such as Antón García Abril, who have contributed to the genre with a copious “liederistic” catalog.

This lecture recital is based on the ambitious project of conducting a scholar study through my dissertation of Antón Garcia Abril’s vocal oeuvre and art song literature. This composer’s song input comprises one hundred and thirty-six songs and specialized in depth research that has not been conducted to date. As a performing artist and scholar, and an advocate of the study of Spanish art song repertoire, both Latin-American and from the Iberian Peninsula, it is my intention to champion this valuable and less known and performed repertoire.

The lecture portion of the recital places García Abril in historical context. There will be a presentation of a general overview of the main historical and cultural events that shaped his life and works. This is followed by an overall biography on the composer García Abril and a brief overview of the compositional/aesthetical characteristics of his works. Lastly, a general presentation of his vocal oeuvre and the main characteristics of his art-song works is presented. The recital portion of this venue include a selection of songs from García Abril’s most celebrated song collections such as Canciones Infantiles (Children Songs), Canciones Españolas (Spanish Songs), Cuatro canciones sobre textos gallegos (Four Song on Galician Texts), Tres Nanas (Three Lullabies), Canciones de Valldemosa (Songs of Valldemosa), Catorce Canciones Asturianas (Fourteen Asturian Songs), Cancones xacobeas (St. Jacob Songs), Canciones del jardín secreto (Songs of the Secret Garden), and Siete canciones de amor (Seven Love Songs).

The selected songs include inspired poetry by Federico García Lorca, Rosalía de Castro, Antonio Gala, Jose León Delestal, Federico Muelas, Antonio Carvajal, among others.