El arpa del guerrero

“El Decameron Negro,” or “The Black Decameron” is a composition by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer from 1983 that has become a very standard part of the guitarist’s repertoire. The title is a reference to the 1910 collection of African folktales about love and eroticism  compiled by the German anthropologist Leo Frobenius (and if that weren’t a complex enough genealogy, Frobenius’ title was itself a reference to the Italian Giovanni Boccaccio’s Medieval compilation of folk stories known simply as The Decameron). There seems to be little real connection between the music and Frobenius’ folk stories (my personal theory is that Brouwer simply liked the fact that they shared a first name), but the music is certainly beautiful and complex, modern but not dissonant.

“El arpa del guerrero,” the subtitle of the first section, means “The Harp of the Warrior.” Sharon Ibsin, who performed the piece’s premiere and for whom the piece was written, notes that the first movement “contrasts dramatic and rhythmic passages with lyrical moments. A warrior is banished because he has taken up playing the harp. But he returns to lead his people in battle when invaded. After his victory, he is condemned to exile again, but escapes with his lover.” I’ve perused the English translation of Frobenius’ Black Decameron before, and found no trace of this story—or any of the other stories referred to in Brouwer’s piece. That said, the piece does consist of a first section, mildly dissonant and filled with abrupt contrasts and changes in mood; a second, lyrical passage; and a third section marked “tranquillo.” These are repeated and varied over the course of the movement, culminating in a coda marked “vivo,” a pair of rapid, ascending arpeggios, and a scale that plunges first down and then triumphantly up (perhaps foreshadowing the “valley” referred to in the next movement).