Dos Lunas de Tarde I & II

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This pair of poems by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) appears in Canciones, 1921-1924 (Songs, 1921-1924). The first is subtitled ‘For Laurita, friend of my sister’ and the second ‘For Isabelita, my sister’.

Lorca, in his brief life, became a celebrated poet and playwright, introducing into his works elements then fashionable in Europe: symbolism, futurism and surrealism. He is believed to have been killed by Nationalist forces at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Something of the surreal quality of Lorca’s poetry comes through in these short poems.

The first poem contrasts life and death – the death of the moon in winter is followed by its re-birth in spring. More generally when we have given up hope, there is the possibility of a positive outlook returning. In the second poem the moon personifies someone who wants to be something else, something unattainable - the Earth is an orange and the moon wants to be one also.

“Dos Luna de Tarde I” was awarded 3rd place and “Dos Luna de Tarde II” was awarded 2nd place in the IX Amadeus International Choral Composition Competition 2020 (Spain) in the category for a capella works.