Elegia Andina for orchestra.

Abstract

The inspiration for <italic>Elegia Andina</italic> for Orchestra came in the summer of 2000 in the midst of my first visit to Peru, my mother's birthplace. Although I thought myself no distant stranger to Peruvian culture, having grown up listening to its music and eating its food (albeit behind United States borders), my initiation into the real Peru threw into relief my complex status as an American-born <italic>mestiza.</italic> My feelings were startlingly out of my control as I vacillated wildly between alienation and homecoming in this Andean country. <italic>Elegia Andina</italic> for Orchestra continues my exploration of my cultural identity in the form of a musical composition that fuses elements of non-western folk music of Peru with music from the classical western canon. The flute plays an important role, showcasing the pentatonic harmonies and performance practice techniques associated with the <italic>arca</italic>/<italic> ira zampona</italic> double-row panpipe. Hence, although finding its inspiration in a well-established tradition, all music written for the flute in this composition is original. Later on, however a well-known folk tune, El Cholito, is quoted in the brasses. This tune is notable for using pentatonic harmonies but with a more defined <italic>sesquialtera </italic> (changing sixes) rhythmic character. In contrast to the folk-influenced and soloistic nature of the flutes and brasses, the tutti writing is less overtly folk-influenced and differs in its harmonic language and its more diffused sonority.