Program. PINEDA: A Popular Ballad in three Parts

CHARACTERS

(in order of appearance)

Women from Albaicín:

“CRUZ DE MAYO ALBAICÍN” CULTURAL ASSOCIATION WOMEN'S CHOIR

Embroiderers and Liberal Conspirators: FLAMENCO BALLET OF ANDALUSIA CAST OF DANCERS

Mariana Pineda: PATRICIA GUERRERO

Pedro de Sotomayor, Liberal Capitan: EDUARDO LEAL

Pedrosa, Judge of Granada: ALFONSO LOSA

Clavela: MARÍA CARRASCO

Doña Angustias, Adoptive Mother of Mariana Pineda: SOFÍA SUÁREZ

Girlfriends of Mariana Pineda:

Lucía- ARACELI MUÑOZ

Amparo- LUCÍA 'LA BRONCE'

Aurelia- CLAUDIA 'LA DEBLA'

Fernando, Very Young: HUGO AGUILAR

Royalist Guardsmen:

AGUSTÍN BARAJAS , ÁLVARO AGUILERA , ÁNGEL FARIÑA , HUGO AGUILAR , JASIEL NAHIN, PABLO EGEA

Nuns and Sisters of the Santa María Egipciaca Beguinaje:

ARACELI MUÑOZ , BLANCA LORENTE , CLAUDIA 'LA DEBLA', CRISTINA SOLER, LUCÍA 'LA BRONCE',

MARÍA CARRASCO, SOFÍA SUÁREZ

FOREWORD

Ballad of Mariana Pineda

Dusk is falling. Two hundred women from the Albaicín district appear. They talk to each other as if it were a bank holiday and no one had ever died, as if they were not tired, as if their hands and knees did not hurt and no one had ever stomped out the light in their hearts. And from those happy voices –from those spontaneous conversations– emerges the Ballad of Mariana Pineda, which they sing with traditional and serene pride:

What a sorrowful day for Granada.

Oh! The stones from the pavement could cry

just to know that Mariana, for silence,

has to go on the scaffold to die.

Marianita, she sat in her bedroom,

thinking thoughts that were always the same!

'If Pedrosa should see me embroidering

on this flag in Liberty's name.'

First Part

Scene One: The flag conspiracy.

As the last notes are sung, other women appear. We understand from their dress that we have gone back in time and we are in nineteenth-century Granada. Secretly, women and men conspire to overthrow Absolutism and bring back their freedom. Hopeful whispers of 'liberty,' "law,' and 'equality' ring out through the city streets. The young Mariana Pineda is also there, a widow with two children. She picks up a piece of mauve taffeta fabric to embroider a flag with those words. Everyone trusts Captain Pedro de Sotomayor –one of the Liberal leaders and Mariana's lover– to lead the revolution to triumph. Pedrosa, the city's judge, pursues the conspirators to execute them. Pedro de Sotomayor is arrested by Pedrosa's men and imprisoned.

Scene Two: 'If she must embroider, let her make her little girl a dress.'

At Mariana's house, Angustias (Mariana's adoptive mother) and Clavela anxiously await the young woman's return. When she arrives, the women reproach her for getting involved in the uprising and beg her to think about her children.

Scene Three: 'If only this afternoon were changed to some great bird – how many ruthless arrows would I launch to make it close its wings.'

Mariana does not heed reason and only wishes for the night to arrive so she can receive news about the fate of her lover and the course of the political events.

With what a terrible effort

the daylight leaves Granada!

It winds around the cypress trees

or tries to hide beneath the stream.

And oh, this night that will not come!

Feared and often dreamed-of night,

already, even from far away,

you wound me with far-reaching swords!

Scene Four: 'For what he loves is Freedom; I love it more than he.'

That same afternoon, Mariana receives a visit at her house from Lucía and Amparo, the daughters of the Chancery Judge. With their laughter and happy dances, the girls try to cheer up Mariana. Then Fernando, the brother of the two girls, appears – he is a young man, very much in love with Mariana. Although he tries to win her over, Mariana's heart and thoughts are with Captain Pedro, who remains imprisoned. Encouraged by the young man's unconditional devotion to her, Mariana asks Fernando to help her rescue the captain. Though spiteful and offended, Fernando agrees to help Mariana.

Scene Five: The secret guardsmen

Thanks to the actions of Mariana and Fernando, Pedro escapes the watchful eye of the Absolutist guardsmen and manages to flee prison. Mariana is unaware of Pedro and the conspirators' new hiding place. The Liberal uprising, although threatened, continues.

Second Part

Scene One: 'Where the veins are most exposed.'

Pedrosa, accompanied by his men, searches the streets for the Liberal and Anarchist conspirators. The penalty for the crime of insurrection is death by garrotte. Pedrosa suspects that Marina Pineda is behind the escape of Captain Pedro de Sotomayor and that she is also embroidering a Liberal flag.

I've heard it said Pedrosa knows

where the veins are most exposed;

for he will doubtless ferret out the throat

of those who insurge.

Scene Two: 'I think I'm also sleeping, children; and flying, lost, inside some dream.'

Mariana sings a lullaby to her children full of sad forebodings. She knows that Pedrosa is closing in and she can be arrested at any moment. Angustias and Clavela again beg her to abandon her political ideals and think about her children and her own life.

And so, sleep sweetly, children, sleep,

while I, insane and lost must feel

consuming in its own hot flames

this rose of blood within my breast.

I think I'm also sleeping, children,

and flying, lost, inside some dream....

Scene Three: 'I am ready to lose your life; to be the mistress of an idiot wanderer.'

A group of Liberal conspirators take refuge at Mariana's house. Soon Pedro de Sotomayor joins them. The lovers are only briefly reunited because the Royalist guardsmen break into the house and the conspirators have to flee under the cover of night.

Scene Four: ‘The Battle of Albaicín.’

In the streets of Albaicín, the great battle is fought between the Liberals and the Absolutists. The Royalist guardsmen drown the uprising in blood. Pedro de Sotomayor manages to flee and leaves Mariana alone in Granada.

Scene Five: 'The flag that you embroidered with these hands.'

Pedrosa discovers the flag that Mariana has been embroidering and arrests her at her house. He offers her freedom if she reveals the leaders of the conspiracy. The young woman refuses to give the names. Pedrosa announces to her that the penalty for the crime is death by garrotte. Mariana refuses again and is sentenced to death.

 

Third Part

Scene One: 'How well I understand what this light says!' (Miserere)

At the Santa María Egipciaca Beguinaje, the nuns and sisters accompany the young Mariana in the hours before her execution. She trusts that Pedro de Sotomayor will rescue her and prevent her death on the scaffold. Fernando appears and he begs her to confess the names of the conspirators to Pedrosa and save herself: for her own and her children’s sake. Mariana refuses and asks him to leave. The nuns pray for Mariana's soul and say goodbye to her.

How well I understand what this light says!

Love, love, love, and eternal solitude!

And you love freedom above everything else?

Well, I am Freedom! And I give my blood

to be your blood, the blood of everyone.

And no one's heart shall evermore be bought!

My name is Freedom, for love willed it so!

Pedro, that freedom for which you left me.

I am that very Freedom men have wounded!

Love, love, love, and eternal solitude!
 

Scene Two (Final Scene): 'I am that very Freedom men have wounded.'

Mariana accepts her fate and calmly heads off to the scaffold. The bells of Granada ring out.

Here by the water's side

with none to see it go,

all that I hoped for died.

A heart whose hopes are dead

into the ground will go!

Mariana, on the scaffold, looks at us for the last time: perhaps in the seconds before her death or perhaps from eternity. From the distance, the notes of the ballad that tells her story –now eternal– once again ring out.