Mirentxu
Mirentxu: Basque idyll in two acts
Jesús Guridi (1886-1961)
This recording dedicated to Mirentxu by Jesús Guridi is a continuation of the project to publish the dramatic works promoted by the Bilbao Choral Society and initiated with the recordings of Maitena by Charles Colin (2021) and Lide ta Ixidor by Santos Inchausti (2022).
The work, whose success and repercussion was outstanding at the time, and after a good number of premieres and performances, lacked a complete recording, which is why the present recording represents a challenge both at the production and artistic level that we should celebrate.
The Sociedad Coral de Bilbao together with the BOS – Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa and a carefully selected cast of soloists have been entrusted with this task, recalling the Society’s active role in the premiere of the work held at the Teatro Campos Elíseos on 31 May 1910.
Background. In search of a Basque national opera
Artistic and musical activity in the Basque Country, and specifically in Bilbao, was no stranger to the search for a national opera of its own, a romantic ideal which had been widespread throughout Europe since the end of the 19th century.
It is a paradox that a thriving mercantile, industrial and financial bourgeoisie tried to return to the cultural and musical essence of a rural society when the loss of many of these values was implicit in the industrial revolution undertaken earlier.
The achievement of a lyric theatre of its own had to give shape to some of the qualities of the Basque homeland: the allusion to lost liberties, the love of the Basque language, a legendary common past, an idyllic rural environment and the value of the religious.
To achieve this, there had to be a cultural renaissance articulated in events such as the Basque Festivals, which rewarded the creation of a Basque art of its own, exemplified in poetry, literature, painting and music.
The appearance of the so-called first operas such as Pudente (1884) by José Antonio Santesteban, Iparraguirre (1889) by Juan Guimón and Chanton Piperri (1899) by Buenaventura Zapirain, marked the beginning of an unstoppable path of national and social vindication.
The creation in 1905-1906 of the new board of directors of the Choral Society formed by José Power as president and Alfredo de Echave as secretary, marked the starting point in the creation of a Basque lyric theatre that would find its high point in the so-called ‘Basque opera campaigns’ developed by the Choral Society in 1910.
In addition to the first successful performances of Chanton Piperri (1899), The Lady of Anboto (1909) by Buenaventura Zapirain and Maitena by Charles Colin (1909), a new challenge was added: to commission three stage works with text in Basque from three young Basque composers, Santos Inchausti and two young composers from the Schola Cantorum in Paris, Jesús Guridi and José María Usandizaga. Both were able to count on the advice of Juan Carlos de Gortazar (Guridi), and Francisco Gascue and José María Agesta (Usandizaga).
The work, gestation and premiere
The twenty-year-old Guridi was going through a difficult time in Bilbao, and the correspondence with his colleague José María Usandizaga, who, like him, was engaged in the composition of Mendi-mendiyan, spontaneously recounts the situation:
‘…. I also do what I can, as I have only three days a week left for my private use, the rest being completely occupied with the damned lessons. So that for some time now I have had no choice but to shake off that laziness which used to characterise me…’.
In this correspondence to his friend, according to his biographer J. Mª de Arozamena, there was ‘neither timidity, nor shyness, nor hesitation’. The young Guridi proposed to break with the approach of previous operas such as Chanton, Anboto or Maitena to propose a new compositional model based on the teachings and training received both at Vincent D’Indy’s Schola Cantorum and at training centres in Brussels and Cologne.
Other issues addressed were the search for popular melodies to be used in the compositional process, and the need to avoid concessions to the public.
His colleague José María Usandizaga in a reply dated 30 October 1909 underlines his main concern, which I believe Guridi shared:
‘What I propose above all is to avoid at all costs the piling up of a collection of more or less beautiful songs (which is what has been done up to now) and to give interest to each character with its characteristic motif’.
Mirentxu, a Basque idyll in two acts dedicated to its patron Count Tomás de Zubiría, was first performed on 31 May 1910 at the Teatro Campos Elíseos in Bilbao.
This premiere was followed by five more performances in June. Aureliano Valle was the choirmaster, and the orchestra formed for the occasion was conducted by Guridi himself, with sets by Eloy Garay based on sketches by Aurelio Arteta.
The cast included: María Teresa Badenes (Mirentxu), María Teresa Tellaeche (Presen), Juan Molina (Chantón), Fernando Alonso (Raimundo), Guillermo Ibáñez (Manu), Dolores Haro (Joxepatxo), Cosme Duñabeitia (Vicente), P. Ibarra (Teodoro) and José Castresana (the shepherd).
There were subsequent performances, notably on 28 and 29 August 1912 at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, 23 and 25 January 1913 at the Liceo in Barcelona, 9 and 11 July 1913 at the Teatro Gayarre in Pamplona and 30 April 1915 at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
Reactions were positive, notably the commentary by Ignacio de Zubialde, pseudonym of Juan Carlos Cortázar, in the Revista Musical of June 1910:
‘But what is noticeable from the beginning to the end of Mirentxu is an exquisite art of composition, in which modern procedures are tempered by an innate sense of just measure. The harmonies are distinguished, but without harshness; the modulations are unexpected, but without violence, and a juicy melody contrasts with the dryness of contemporary production. And above all shines the art of development, which Guridi possesses to an extreme degree and which allows him to decompose the themes, metamorphose them, bend them to all modes of expression and extract from them as many elements of workmanship as he needs’.
