BESTIARIUM

Bestiarium, for soprano and mezzo-soprano, was written by Spanish composer Mercedes Zavala in 2006; in 2011, for the premiere at Festival de Música Contemporánea de La Habana, she revised the score to include a part for one percussionist performing marimba, glockenspiel, and tam-tam. Fort he text, the composer chose four poems from the collection of the same title (Bestiarium) by renowned Cuban poet Dulce María Loynaz (1902-1997), who wrote the poems in the early twentieth century in Havana. Interestingly, Loynaz wrote the poems dedicated to one of her high school teachers, who did not approve her examination in Natural History. She later submitted these poems as a sort of ingenious revenge –all”required” descriptions of species in the animal world – in verse! In choosing these four, the composer has sought to “construct a narrative in which the performers could display their musical, poetic and dramatic talent.”