Cyclic and Repetition-Based Structures as Narrative Tools in Golijov’s Ainadamar

Abstract

Osvaldo Golijov’s music borrows musical styles from a wide variety of different cultures to create a distinctive brand of 21st-century storytelling. Ainadamar, his first opera, presents images of the life and death of iconic Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and actress Margarita Xirgu from a libretto by David Henry Hwang in a Spanish translation by Golijov. This paper analyzes Golijov’s use of cyclic and repetitive musical forms as a primary storytelling device both within individual movements and over the course of the whole opera.