Guernika

We have been asked to choose a piece of art that is meaningful for us. This is not an easy topic because, in my opinion, every piece of art is somehow meaningful. Yet only few touch someone’s heart. I don’t really have a favorite artist or style, neither in music nor in fine arts. However, today, I would like to talk a little bit about a painting that really impressed me when I first saw it: Picasso’s Guernika.
After being for decades in New York’s MoMa, fortunately, in 1982, the painting came back to Spain. The country, shortly after the triumph of democracy, celebrated its arrival and the end of a dictatorship that began when it was painted. Today, this huge painting (3.5 x 7.5 m) hangs in the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid.
In 1936 the Spanish Civil War was started and Picasso was asked by the republican government to paint a canvas for the Republic Pavilion at the Universal Exhibition of 1937 in Paris. The bombing of the city of Guernika by Nazi Germany Luftwaffe determined the topic of the painting. Guernika was the first bombarded city ever and it was the training, the beginning, of the horrors of World War II.
Picasso used the most modern techniques in order to express such hecatomb. Using a white and grey palette, we observe a series of images and symbols that transmit that pain. We see symbols that truly represent Spain, like a dying horse, which Picasso had already used in other bullfighting scenes. There is also a bull. People are screaming, flapping around, scared, in a crowded room illuminated just by the light of a candle and a lonely light bulb. A mother is carrying her dead baby. She is screaming with a grimace of pain. We can see a woman in flames, trying to escape. The bombs and fire, however, did not exempt anyone. Over 1600 civilians died. They were innocent people.
Since its first exhibition in Paris, the painting became a symbol against war. When I saw it, I couldn’t avoid feeling choked. I thought of the millions of people who have died in wars and who are still dying. I wish that more than art were aware of war.

Composers Workshop Review

The Composers Workshop is an event that gives current University of Iowa composition students the opportunity to have their works performed publicly. The couple of dozen people present were not enough to fill Clapp Recital Hall. In my opinion they should have picked a smaller venue because this empty space did not transmit the feelings that chamber music should. The evening started with “Rigadoo (2007),” a trio by John Griffin. This piece of program music –the story of a wandering hobo– is based on an old Irish folk song. Elements of typical twentieth century American style reminded us of Ned Rorem. The piece was predicable, yet showed interesting motive development. It was followed by “Chants of the Ocean (2007),” a duo for piano and tuba by Timothy A. Davis. I really liked the piece. It was very subtle and volatile, like a Debussy prelude. Like the first one, this was also a program piece. However, it conveyed the feeling of walking at the seashore with the sound of ships as background. The third work, “No Sleep for the Wicked (2008)” is fifth movements of a ballet by Chistropher Gainey. Conceived for violoncello solo, the performer Emmalee Hunnicutt dived into the depths of this lamento, which was based on a Lord Byron poem. I would say this one was my favorite piece. The last one, “His Branches Run Over the Wall (2007),” by David DeVasto, a current teaching assistant and Ph.D. candidate in the Music Department, was the evening’s most mature piece. More complex in structure, the piece is based on a traditional story from the Old Testament. It was an excellent composition divided in two movements. The second movement started with a promising fugue but the composer got cold feet and it lasted less than a minute. I recognize that composing a fugue is not easy – even Beethoven had difficulty with them. I left the hall after one hour of interesting new music. I can’t wait for the next time.

Childhood Reminiscences

I don’t have a lot of memories of when I was ten years old. Well, I don’t have many amazing memories. However, I was a very busy child. I went to school everyday but I didn’t like it. Actually I didn’t like my classmates. I was the black sheep of my class. After school I went everyday to the music school and spent a lot of hours there. While other children where playing or watching T.V., I was playing piano and all this stuff. I don’t miss this “mass media” part of my childhood though. I really loved Saturdays because my cousin Daniel came and we played together. Some might think that a ten-year-old is too old for toys. I don’t care about that!! We played playmobil and a sort of reality-game we called “play ourselves.” In this game we just act as we were adults and we imagined how our lives would be like. This was my favorite game. My mother also cooked spaghetti. It was my favorite dish before I got to know better things. It’s nice looking back every now and then. Sometimes I smile and my eyes get wet.