Repertoire
Antonio de Literes: Los elementos (c. 1705)
ARTISTS
Aire y Aurora: Jone Martínez, soprano
Tierra y Tiempo: Serena Pérez, mezzosoprano
Fuego: Pilar Alva Martín, soprano
Agua: Soraya Méncid, soprano
Jorge Jiménez, violin
Daniel Pinteño, violin
Ruth Verona, cello
Pablo Zapico, baroque guitar
Jorge Muñoz, double bass
Aarón Zapico, harpsichord and conductor
Programme
Antonio de Literes, born in Artà, Mallorca, began composing while still young and at the age of nineteen presented his opera Los elementos (1705), a ‘harmonic opera in Italian style for the birthday of Her Grace, the Duchess of Medina de las Torres, My Lady’, dedicated to the wife of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia. The allegorical work is based on a debate between Water, Air, Fire and Earth (the four elements) about who will replace the Sun, who is absent. In the end, Time, acting as judge, announces the triumphant return of the Sun. The score is kept in the National Library of Madrid and the opera was revived in Granada in 1985. Performed now by the Forma Antiqua ensemble, it is a key work for understanding the origins of opera in Spain.
