29 Jan Notes on the Program: La Diosa

Les Délices presents La Diosa, Feb. 28 and March 1st, 2026

Les Délices will give two live performances of La Diosa: February 28th at Heights Theater in Cleveland Heights and March 1st at Inlet Dance Studios at the Pivot Center in Cleveland. A filmed version of this concert will be available to watch on-demand via Les Délices’ VHX platform April 1 – 30, 2026. Single tickets for in-person performances hosted by Les Délices are on sale via the LD website. Patrons can purchase streaming access through VHX. 

Preview the program notes:

Mysticism, folklore, and feminine energy pervade La Diosa, which celebrates the vibrant musical traditions that flourished in the missions and cathedrals of colonial Latin America alongside the World Premiere of Soy la Diosa by Nicaraguan-American composer Gilda Lyons. Beginning with José de Torres’ ecstatic cantata Afectos Amantes, this program offers mesmerizing harmonies and swirling vocal lines that evoke divine presence in both the heavens and earthly realms. Additional songs and instrumental music preserved in manuscripts from present-day Bolivia and Peru combine Indigenous, European, and African influences to create a style full of rhythmic vitality, expressive contrast, and improvisatory flair.

While colonizers brought both violence and devastating disease following their arrival in the late 15th century, they also introduced European musical culture – largely through the work of missionaries – who used music in the service of conversion and assimilation. It wasn’t a simple transplantation of European music, however. Rather, tonight’s program bears witness to the evolution of a rich, mixed musical tradition that was not only infused with but also shaped by the music of Indigenous peoples and African slaves who were transported there. Pastoreta ychepe flauta from eastern Bolivia’s Chiquito Missions typifies this hybridity with its catchy tunes and percussive rhythms adapted to an Italianate concerto form. In fact, the cultural effects of the Jesuit missions long outlasted their expulsion from the continent in 1767, and can still be heard today among the descendants of the Indigenous peoples of the region.

Across colonial Latin America the air resonated with the sounds of string and wind instruments, organs, and voices. In the cathedrals, the works of Spanish golden age composers Francisco Guerrero, Cristobal Morales, and Tomás Luis de Victoria became a model in the New World for native-born composers such as Rafael Antonio Castellanos (composer of Oygan una xacárilla that closes our program), who served as maestro de capilla at Guatemala Cathedral from 1765-1791. Our ensemble for this performance resembles one that Castellanos may have known during his time in Guatemala: cathedral records name numerous musicians including a harpsichordist, bassoonists, violinists, organist, and an oboist. Guitars of various shapes and sizes and percussion were also essential to the sound and performance of this music – both then and now.

We begin with the cantata Afectos amantes by José de Torres y Martinez Bravo (1665-1738), which is preserved in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guatemala City. The text and its musical setting is as mystical as it is sacred: while the mesmerizing aria “La solfa mia” evokes divine inspiration the lines between Orpheus and God become blurred; the final aria “Cisne fue para espirar,” flutters, pants, and cries with ecstasy.

Beyond the church, we are fortunate to have late 18th century popular music that was “recorded” in the field as part of a census commissioned by the bishop of Trujillo, Peru. Although seen through the eyes of colonizers, the over 1400 illustrations in the Trujillo Codex del Peru nonetheless depict the lives, clothing, customs, and environments of native peoples in the region; 37 of these feature costumed dancers as well as musicians playing pipe and tabor, harp, violin, guitar, and percussion instruments. In addition, roughly twenty short musical selections were preserved – probably by Trujillo’s maestro de capilla Pedro José Solis – that serve as a link between oral and written traditions. Virtually all the pieces are dances (whether sung or instrumental) whose music is melodically driven with simple yet effective instrumental accompaniment.

There’s a real anthropological goal with the transcriptions, which go so far as to indicate tempo, instrumentation, and place of origin. For instance, the transcriber lets us know that the Bayle de danzantes was performed by pifano (fife) and tamboril (drum) and danced by four, eight, or more people holding swords or handkerchiefs in the form of a contradance. The Tonada La Donosa and Tonadilla El Palomo are both love songs. The beguiling Tonada La Donosa features a mixed meter (the accompaniment suggests 6/8 while the melody is in triple time) as the lover offers himself as a slave. The Tonadilla El Palomo is from Lambayeque, a region with a higher proportion of enslaved people. The tribute to “Samba” (a Black woman) indicates its possible origin from or within African communities and the song’s music and text (centering aroma, fragrance, and perfume) are imbued with a sense of place. Lanchas para baylar is perhaps the most interesting and complex piece in the Codex: it’s the only piece in the codex that modulates to a different key for an entire section and its opening melody recalls a fandango.

17th and 18th century manuscripts and printed works for guitar and keyboard from the old world (Spain and Portugal) and the new (Mexico, Bolivia, and other places) reflect the popularity and mobility of dance music. The works of the influential Spanish guitarist, theorist, and composer Santiago de Murcia testifies not only to the widespread popularity of continental dances from France and Spain like Jácaras and Marizápalos but also dances of African origin such as Cumbés and Zarambeques. Besides Murcia’s published works, three important manuscripts of his music – including Mexico’s Saldívar Codex – survive.

The Jácara de la Costa that we perform draws inspiration (and material) from several late-17th century sources for guitar: Francisco Guerau’s 1694 Poema harmónico, Murcia’s 1722 publication Cifras selectas de guitarra, and the Codex Saldivar. The Jácara is a bailes, a rowdy and rambunctious dance traditionally accompanied by castanets (jácara is most likely derived from the word jácaro, meaning ruffian). While jácaras are usually in the minor mode, the Jácaras de la costa is in G major. Scholar Craig Russell has suggested that perhaps the Jácara de la costa “is related to the áquera bella, which hails from the regions of Catalunia and Valencia, hence “from the coast.”

Marizápalos is another popular tune with a long history that can be traced on both sides of the Atlantic, including in the Codex Zuola from modern-day Bolivia and Peru. Resembling the folia ground bass, we’ve drawn inspiration for our variations or diferencias from a variety of settings for both keyboard and guitar.

To close, Rafael Antonio Castellano’s Oygan una Xacarilla seductively combines sacred and secular to harmonize all the themes and motives in our program. Borrowing the seductive rhythms of the jácara, it abounds in sensual imagery like flowers, fruits, flames, and wombs as it pays tribute to Saint Anne, mother of Mary.

The highlight of our program  is Soy la Diosa, a new commission by Nicaraguan-American composer Gilda Lyons that marks the second installment in Les Délices three-year commissioning plan, The Mythology Project. Containing beautiful ritualistic imagery (like weaving, working clay, healing waters), Soy la Diosa identifies feminine characters associated with creation and protection and leans deeply into spirituality and sensuality.  This bilingual four-movement work for soprano and period instrument ensemble brings the past into the present as it invokes the Mayan deity Ix Chel (Goddess of the moon, fertility, weaving, and childbirth), references the legend of the Guardian of Mombacho, and celebrates the essence of the divine feminine that remains ever-present in our daily lives.

– Debra Nagy