La Oración del Torero

Programme Notes

Joaquin Turina’s op. 34 La Oración del Torero (The bullfighter’s prayer) was composed for “laúd” quartet. Although this can be translated as “lute”, it’s likely Turina had mandolins in mind.

Turina described his inspiration:

“I saw my work during an afternoon of bullfighting in Madrid arena. I was in the court of horses. Behind a small door there was a chapel, filled with incense, where toreadors went prior to facing death. It was then that there appeared in front of my eyes, in all its plenitude, this subjectively musical and expressive contrast between the tumult of the arena, the public that awaited the fiesta and the devotion of those who, in front of this poor altar filled with touching poetry, prayed to God to protect their lives.”

La Oración del Torero was written in 1925 for Quarteto Aguillar and arranged the following year for string quartet, string orchestra and piano trio.