Cuatro madrigales amatorios (1948)

Con qué la lavaré?

Vos me matasteis

De dónde venis, amore?

De la álamos vengo, madre

Thoroughly and unmistakably Spanish though Rodrigo’s music is, it avoids the raw hispanicism favoured atimes by compatriots of an earlier generation like, say, Falla or Turnina. The neo-classical stylisation of two of his most celebrated scores, the Concierto de Aranjuez and the Fantasia para un gentilhombre, is a characteristic elegant idiomatic deflection. Written half way between those two works, the Madrigales amatorios similarly take refuge in the past, the Renaissance in this case, in that they are based on the anonymous texts found in the Recopilación de sonetos y villancicos of the 16th-century composer Juan Vásquez. The archaism of Rodrigo’s setting is evident from the start of Con qué la lavaré? and is particularly obvious at the cadences. Even so, he clearly felt that he could afford the occasional expressive dissonance, as in the achingly sad piano interlude after the repetitions of the first two lines, without putting stylistic unity at risk. Vos me matasteis follows the same formal pattern, offering several repetitions of the first lines and explaining their meaning in the poignant second half of the song. Rather less archaic in its playful harmonies and coloratura vocal line, De dónde venis, amore? is the scherzo of the set. Finally, in De la álamos vengo, madre the composer abandons stylistic pretence by making use of a traditional melody and dance rhythms while at the same time keeping his distance by means of gently satirical harmonies and instrumental colouring.