Concierto de Aranjuez

 

Demeter (Ceres) mourning for her child

The Concierto de Aranjuez is a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the 20th century.

It was inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the spring resort palace and gardens built by Philip II.  He described the concerto as capturing "the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds, and the gushing of fountains" in the gardens of Aranjuez.

This concerto is in three movements. The second movement is marked by its slow pace and quiet melody.  A feeling of quiet regret permeates the piece. In later life Rodrigo and his wife declared that the second movement of the concerto  was written as a response to the miscarriage of their first child.

The premiere of the Concierto de Aranjuez [1] was held on 9 November 1940 at the Palau de la Música Catalana, in Barcelona. A chart drawn for the date of the premiere at Barcelona is presented here. Our attention is immediately drawn to the Sun (in Scorpio) opposite Jupiter-Saturn (in Taurus).

Taurus is the "good earth," the bountiful Great Mother; and it can be considered as a feminine Sign. It is the "good earth," but what we name thus is the very thin layer of the earth-surface which is susceptible of bearing a harvest of plants and trees. It is the rich, black soil  without which there could be no life on earth. Taurus thus  is a sign linked fertility and procreation  and the abundance that follows spring. It is for this reason that Taurus resents the opposite sign Scorpio – the sign that brings tidings of the coming winter.  Scorpio’s frosts seal the doom of red and golden leaves. It has  become  thus the symbol of death.

Adding the asteroids to the planetary configuration we have:

Sun [17sc] – Ceres [15sc] – Orpheus [6sc] opposite Saturn [11ta] –Jupiter [10ta]

ORPHEUS: Sad, sweet or haunting music, lyrics or poetry; dirges; sense of mourning and loss; grief (for what you don't have—what has gone out of your life--  “might have been” or what was); contact with death [1].

CERES: The need for nurturing; food; the relationship between mother & child [1].

It is therefore no surprise that the  Concierto de Aranjuez celebrates both the Taurus season of nature’s abundance and fertility as well as the sadness of the Scorpio season of death.

 

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ovhmoc3xCE&t=14s

[2] https://marthalangwescott.com/basic-resources/