034-I am a livestock keeper....

I think with the eyes and the ears.

0
  • Work
    • 034
  • Name
    • Sou um guardador de rebanhos...
  • City and date
    • Besalú, January 1991
  • Duration
    • 3'
  • Instrumentation
    • piano, violin and voice
  • Texts
    • Fernando Pessoa
  • Text language
    • Portuguese
  • Cd
    • Water Nymphs-The show (2013)
  • Premiere
    • Girona, Municipal Theater February 10, 2013 Violin: Eszter Schütz Piano: Anna Cassú Soprano: Imma Presas

Extract from the work "Songs to the livestock keeper", lyrical show about poems from the book "The livestock keeper" by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, although in this work he used the heteronym of Alberto Caeiro.

The origin of this work was conditioned by three challenges: the first one, to present it in a composition competition held in the city of Valencia, if I remember correctly, the second one, the self-imposed challenge of generating a work in in which the melodic line was created without any instrumental help, a melodic line generated uniquely and exclusively by what my musical mind was creating, and the third one challenge and not least, to use some of the poems that I had fallen in love with at that time of the great Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

And so it was. Once I finished the melodic part of each section of the work, I continued in the creation of the piano accompaniment and then added the violin, and thus I progressed in the creation of the whole proposal.

I submitted the finished work to a competition, but it didn't get support. Then I realized that the real prize had been creating it and having learned so much along the way as a composer.

Now I just hope that both the effort and the joy I invested in making it, will be used for everyone who listens to it or who wants to interpret it, as it happens with the rest of my creative catalog.

The original work from 1991 was created for baritone, violin and piano. Later, in 2012 a version for soprano, violin and piano was born thanks to the interest in my work by the soprano Maite Mer (Water Nymphs (the show)), and finally in 2024 I created a new revised version of the entire work where I corrected some errors and simplified and cleaned up the violin part.

 

Imma Presas

 

Sou um guardador de rebanhos... (Original in Portuguese):
 
Sou um guardador de rebanhos.
O rebanho é os meus pensamentos
E os meus pensamentos são todos sensações.
 
Penso com os olhos e com os ouvidos
E com as mãos e os pés
E com o nariz e a boca.
 
Pensar uma flor é vê-la e cheirá-la
E comer um fruto é saber-lhe o sentido.
 
Por isso quando num dia de calor
Me sinto triste de gozá-lo tanto,
E me deito ao comprido na erva,
E fecho os olhos quentes,
Sinto todo o meu corpo deitado na realidade,
Sei a verdade o sou feliz.
 
 
I am a livestock keeper... (English translation):
 
I am a guardian of flocks.
The flock are my thoughts
and my thoughts are all sensations.

I think with my eyes and my ear
and with hands and feet
and with the nose and mouth.

To think of a flower is to see it and to smell it
and to eat a fruit is to know the meaning.

So when a hot day
I feel sad to enjoy it so much
and long m'ajec in the grass
and close my eyes,
I feel the whole body lying in the reality,
I know the truth and I am happy.
 
 
Work included in the show Water Nymphs (The show) (2013) 
 
 
Sou um guardador de rebanhos... (original version 2012 for soprano, violin and piano) (3'13)
  
 
  • Voice: Imma Presas
  • Violin: Eszter Schütz
  • Piano: Anna Cassú
Concert at the Municipal Theater of Girona on February 10, 2013
 
 
Score in pdf (baritone, violina and piano version in a new 2024 revised version - Full Score and parts - 20 pages) 2€:
 
 

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