La Virgen de la Macarena (arr Castellanos)

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Bernardino Bautista (arr. Chris Castellanos)


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General Info

Year:
Duration: c. 4:35
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Unknown
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown


Instrumentation

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Errata

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Program Notes

The Virgin of Hope of Macarena (Spanish: Virgen de la Esperanza de Macarena de Sevilla) popularly known as La Esperanza or Virgin of Macarena, is a pious 17th century Roman Catholic wooden image of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in Seville, Spain. The Marian title falls under a category of Our Lady of Sorrows commemorating the desolate grievance and piety of the Virgin Mary during Holy Week. The image is widely considered as a national treasure by the Spanish people, primarily because of its religious grandeur during Lenten celebrations.

The image is also known for local folklore, most notably its discolored cheek allegedly caused by a wine bottle thrown by a Protestant drunken rebel at her face, which pious legends also claim has never been able to be removed. Its popularity among the masses is often highlighted in the five rose-emerald brooches attached to her dress given by the famed bullfighter José Gómez Ortega (Joselito).

- Program Note from Wikipedia


The melody is attributed to the Spanish composer Bernardino Bautista Monterde (1880-1959), about whom little is known.


Anyone who has ever been to a corrida (bullfight), either in Spain or in Latin America, has probably heard the same music during the course of the ballet-like entrance of the various participant in the bullfight, concluding with the entrance of the hero of the day, the matador himself.

The music usually used for these bullfight ceremonies isI taken from an unlikely source. It is an arrangement, usually featuring a trumpet solo, of a piece by an obscure composer, Bernardino Bautista Monterde, which is homage to one of the many national Holy Virgins, this one in the Spanish town of Macarena, La Virgen de la Macarena. Usually the statues of the Virgin Mary that are special to a particular town or area are carried, on various Christian Holy Days, through the street of the town for the townspeople to see and admire, and are then taken into the local church or cathedral for a special Mass. Thus the music is processional in tyle, befitting the carrying of the statue of the Virgin through the streets.

Its almost university use in bullfights was probably due to two aspects of the music. First, its processional nature, accompanying the entry of the participants into the bullring. Second, it would seem fitting that a work relating to the Virgin Mary be used to bless the participants in the ensuing contest, and keep them safe from great harm.

It is rare for a composer to gain worldwide recognition through a single work, but just this happened to Bernardinio Monterde. Even though hi name doe not appear in music encyclopedias, textbooks or biographical dictionaries, his music has become very familiar to those millions of spectators who have become bullfight aficionados, as well as countless others.

- Program Note from score of Alfred Reed edition by Raymond A. Barr


NB: The word "virgin" is spelled virgen in Spanish, virgin in English.


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State Ratings

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Works for Winds by This Composer


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