We have something different today! Among our family of wonderful soloists, the gorgeous soprano Vanessa Vasquez is one of our favorite and most frequent guests. In 2017 we presented a Spanish concert and she sang this beautiful aria. Originally appearing as the fourth piece of Granados’s piano suite Goyescas, the aria La Maja y el Ruiseñor is based on a folk song which Granados heard a young woman sing in the countryside surrounding Valencia. He transforms the melody through a series of variations culminating in a cadenza imitating the song of the Nightingale. I hope you enjoy this change of pace for a day!

– Dennis Keene

ENRIC GRANADOS La Maja y el ruiseñor (The Song of the Nightingale)

Vanessa Vasquez, Soprano
Michelle Scanlon, Pianist

Recorded live in concert, February 9, 2017, Church of the Ascension, NYC
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.

The Song of the Nightingale

Why in the shadows does the nightingale
Sing its harmonious song?
Or want to avenge some grievance?
Perhaps she keeps hidden in her breast such grief
That she hopes to find relief in the shadows,
Sadly singing her songs of love. Or,
Is the love-lorn slave of her song.
Mysterious is the song
Which the nightingale chants, wrapped in shadows!
Ah! Love is like a flower
At the mercy of the sea.
Love! Love!
Ah, there is no singing without love!
Ah! Nightingale: your singing is
A hymn of love.

Translation by David Wyatt