Premiere of Duendecitos, for mandolin and guitar by Duo Westklang in Germany

PROGRAM NOTES

I have always been fascinated with Francisco de Goya’s paintings, drawings, and prints. He was a true maverick and a visionary who knew masterfully how to see tradition in a very personal way and then push it to new boundaries.

Duendecitos (Hobgoblins) is a musical depiction of Plate 49 from his print series “Los Caprichos.” Goya’s pointed (almost expressionist) criticism of the society and politics of his time becomes, through this musical depiction a critiscim of our current society.

The three goblings are remarkably different: one laughing and drinking (perhaps laughing at the absurdity of the world), another sitting, completely drunk and about to pass out, and another 􏰀irtatious one wearing a light hood and sandals. The three of them are so pleased about themselves, that it is almost like nothing else matters in life but that very moment we see in the print. Two of the most remarkable aspects of Goya’s piece are how large all the hands of the goblins are, and his treatment of light and contrast in the print. The composition features quite extreme changes in dynamics and articulations in order to depict these radical elements in Goya’s print. These three pictorial characters become the main musical themes in this composition and they interact almost as if they three facets of the same persona, representing Goya’s description of his own times and by extension, of our own.