del Águila - Submerged

Written in 2013 was commissioned by Hat Trick and Brigham Young University. It is based on Alfonsina Storni’s romantic, surrealist poem “Yo en el fondo del mar” On the surface, both the poem and music seem innocent and light-hearted, but one feels differently when the author’s fascination with the sea, and her later suicide by drowning in it, are taken into consideration. The piece follows the form of the poem except for the lively introduction and a coda which illustrate the poet’s childhood near her native Argentine Andes, and in Switzerland. With six harp loud chords, the piece “falls” deep underwater: this slow middle section is mysterious, intimate and magical. It recreates the poem’s isolated submerged world where fish with flowers, octopus and sirens dance while birds chirp happily far above water. The harp uses unusual extended techniques, some stemming from Paraguayan harp playing. The viola adds a rhythmic edge by playing constant multiple stop pizzicati imitating a Charango. The flute is the Quena of the ensemble and it uses often extended techniques as well. “In my interpretation of Storni’s poem this underwater world is that special place of isolation where many artists withdraw to create, a place and mood that can easily turn into depression. A place that ultimately Alfonsina chose to remain and which became her death. In my Submerged, I continued the events of the poem and made the listener return to the real world above water. This return is triggered by the memories of her childhood played by the harp and viola as a music box Ländler which turns into a Vidalita, both music which Alfonsina would have heard in her childhood.​
Yo en el fondo del mar from Mundo de siete pozos (1934)
Storni, Alfonsina ( 1892 – 1937 )
Published by Tor, Buenos Aires (1935)
En el fondo del mar
hay una casa
de cristal.
A una avenida
de madréporas
da.
Un gran pez de oro,
a las cinco,
me viene a saludar.
Me trae
un rojo ramo
de flores de coral.
Duermo en una cama
un poco más azul
que el mar.
Un pulpo
me hace guiños
a través del cristal.
En el bosque verde
que me circunda
—din don…din dan…—
se balancean y cantan
las sirenas
de nácar verdemar.
Y sobre mi cabeza
arden, en el crepúsculo,
las erizadas puntas del mar.
Me at the Bottom of the Sea
Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938)
(from World of Seven Wells, 1934)
At the bottom of the sea
there is a house
made of glass,
at the edge
of a coral-lined
road.
A big golden fish
comes to greet me
at five;
it brings me
a red bouquet
of coral as flowers.
I sleep on a bed
somewhat bluer
than the sea.
An octopus
now winks at me
through the glass.
In the green forest
that surrounds me
swaying mermaids sing
—ding, dong … ding, ding—
in their nacre and aquamarine.
And above my head
glow in the twilight
the prickling pins of the sea.
Translation by M. del Aguila (2013)