Hommage à Manolo Hugué, five poems in cantata form

"Although there’s no thematic or formal link between one poem and the other, I wanted to unite them someway by composing a short cantata for soprano with the orchestra in an accompanying role, to set the mood for the words, in a kind of uninterrupted symphonic-vocal work." Xavier Montsalvatge "The beauty and lyrical quality of the poet’s words were transformed by Montsalvatge into very expressive music, free from everything except strict adherence to the text or the orchestral dramaturgy derived from its content. Montsalvatge had already given us some very beautiful examples of this metaphor on the Invocaciones al Crucificado (Invocations to the Crucified), on the Cuba dentro de un piano (Cuba inside a piano) after Alberti, or on the Soneto (Sonnet) by García Lorca. To make for a perfect occasion, Homage to Manolo Hugué, was first sung by Victoria dels Àngels’s magnificent voice on 18 March 1973 at the Auditorio del Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones in Madrid." Enrique Franco