Program Notes

For a concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Los Angeles County Museum, and the opening of the Jean Delacour Auditorium (he was the retiring director) on April 3, 1960 Franz Waxman addressed the audience on the occasion of the world premiere of Goyana:

“When Mr. Russell Smith, Chief of Education of the Los Angeles County Museum, showed me the beautiful painting by the Spanish genius Francisco Goya (1746-1828) titled” The Marques de Santa Cruz”, I almost immediately had the idea to write a series of musical pieces based on Goya’s paintings. I call them Goyana, Four Sketches for Piano Solo, String Orchestra and Percussion. I call them sketches, because like the sketch of an artist they are short, quick illustrations and impressions, rather than long pieces with elaborate development sections”.

“The first piece represents the subject of Goya’s painting “The Marquesa de Santa Cruz”, posing as Erato, the muse of the Love Song. The second is called “Bal Champetre”, which in English means something like “A Dance in the Country”. It is a tapestry and shows two couples dancing under a tree, to the accompaniment of some village musicians. The third painting is called “The Miracle of St. Anthony”, and is a mural, which Goya painted in the church of San Antonio Della florida in Madrid. It illustrates St. Anthony, bringing a dead man back to life and thereby clearing an innocent man of a murder charge. I have used two themes from the Lithurgy of Gregorian Chants in this piece: the ‘Miserere’ and the ‘Ave Maria’. The fourth and last sketch is after a painting called “ The Witches’ Sabbath”. It shows a group of witches, seated around a giant demon-goat, ready to indulge in the fantastic midnight rituals of witchcraft. The main theme of this section is taken from the ‘Cat Fugue’ by Scarlatti, and is written in the dance form of the Tarantella.”