for string quartet
Cielito Lindo de Juarez is a Spanish title meaning “the beautiful skies of Juarez.” As a very young boy, I spent a brief time in my mothers’ home town of Juarez, Mexico where everyday I would see the beautiful landscape that inspired the mood of this quartet. In a one-movement sonata form (with no repeat of the exposition) the piece is centered in the Lydian mode and is neo-classical in style containing polychords that dominate throughout. The second theme of the quartet contains the slightly obscured melody of “Cielito Lindo,” a popular Mexican song, popularized in 1882 by Mexican author Quirino Mendoza y Cortés (c. 1862–1957). The title is roughly translated as “Lovely Sweet One,” although the word cielo means “sky” or “heaven”, it is also a term of endearment comparable to “sweetheart” or “honey.” Cielito, the diminutive, can be translated as “sweetie”; lindo means “cute”, “lovely” or “pretty”. Commonly played by mariachi bands, it has been recorded by many artists in the original Spanish as well as in English and other languages. This song is one that I often heard being performed by artists and mariachi bands on the streets of downtown Juarez during my childhood visits.
Cielito Lindo de Juarez was runner-up in the Louisiana Sinfonietta People’s Choice Competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1996.