Revueltas - Sensemayá [ANALYSIS]

A Latin Rite of Spring, full of mythological dances of the Mayas and the Aztecs and a ritual ending with the killing of a tropical snake: this is Revueltas' Sensemayá.
Inspired by a story by the Cuban writer Nicolas Guillén - which Revueltas heard from the poet himself - Sensemayá is built with refined skill exploiting the hypnotic rhythms, the asymmetries, and the wild percussion of the ethnographic heritage.
This piece is the one that got Revueltas international recognition since it was recorded by Leopold Stokowski in 1947. Many other conductors have tackled it after him, including Leonard Bernstein: his notes on the score are available here: archives.nyphi...
Enjoy and don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel: it will help more people find it and learn more about this wonderful piece!
You can jump through different sections here:
0:00 Conducting Pills ep.20
0:46 Introduction: Guillén's poem
2:48 Structure
2:58 Rhythmic base
3:28 First theme
3:56 B section: second theme
4:45 C section
5:28 Recapitulation
5:53 Technical tip
7:12 Coda
7:50 Conclusion
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[@siempremusical]

I'm writing a PhD on Revueltas. I wrote the Wikipedia page of Revueltas in spanish. Sensemayá represents the culmination of the Mexican composition school of the XXth century. It's very rare to find orchestral works like this one. Only Ravels Bolero or Honneggers Pacific 231 come to mind. Indeed it only lasts 6 minutes and many PhD researches have been made on this short but great piece.

[@ggriglio]

Absolutely. And the correlation between words and rhythms is quite unique. I had a field day writing on it and analysing the various rhythmical patterns (see here: www.gianmariagriglio.it/members/bonus-material/)

[@NateSassoonMusic]

anywhere we can read your PhD thesis?

[@walterprofes4757]

Fantastic piece and fantastic presentation. Loved it!

[@ggriglio]

Thank you!

[@healthylifehacks6712]

What a great piece, thanks for doing this!

[@ggriglio]

Pleasure!

[@ryandakotafarris8528]

This video would be 100 times better if you just speak 20% slower and don’t put the pointless transition graphic between every sentence. The content is very good.

[@ggriglio]

Thank you for your feedback. This one was one of the earliest and I did make those changes later on. It would be great if you could take a look at my latest videos too and give me your two cents

[@_rstcm]

Shortest and quickest analysis ever!

[@ggriglio]

That's why the series is called Conducting Pills 😉

[@_rstcm]

@@ggriglio I get it now, u were speaking very fast so it was hard to catch. Thanks anyway! 😁👍

[@ggriglio]

Ye...sorry about that. I've improved that in my latest videos

[@mariamorfeoysusonidoespect2128]

Bro this piece is not about the Mayas, it is based on a Cuban poem that comes from Yoruba tradition. I think you are mixing it up with 'La Noche de los Mayas'. Look out

[@ggriglio]

1 - I never said it was about the Mayas; 2 - I mention the poem and the origin of the piece 3 - I suggest going beyond the first 5 seconds before making assumptions about the content of the video 4 - not your "bro"

[@mariamorfeoysusonidoespect2128]

@@ggriglio you mentioned Mayans and Aztecs on the intro. And yes I know the intro is not the rest of the video. However, I think it's important not to give those mixed signals in regards of both cultures. I did not make any assumptions about you or the video.

[@ggriglio]

Yes, I do mention that. And, again, I never said that the piece is about the Mayas. In the same intro I also mention the snake from the poem. It is a known fact though that Revueltas immersed himself in Mayan music, which did have an influence on his compositions. Finally, you did assume I made the piece about the Mayas and that I confused it with Revueltas other major piece. All of this is in your first comment.

[@mariamorfeoysusonidoespect2128]

@@ggriglio Revueltas did involve in Mayan music. However; Sensemaya comes from the afro-cuban rhythm tradition. And quite frankly, you did say "full of mythological dances of the Mayans and The Aztecs". I think it is important to delimitate the different influences of Revueltas. Latin America is to diverse just to put every culture in the same box.

[@nab626]

I wouldn’t call it Latin.

[@ggriglio]

Why not?