Anyone who reads the “Today in History” and/or “Famous Births and Deaths” posts on this site knows that I like to highlight artists, musicians, and literary figures. I also regularly utilize art in articles and create features at the bottom of the page. Great art, music and literature are things of beauty. They make the suffering, conflict and turmoil of History worthwhile and in some cases noble. Recently, I had the opportunity to substitute in a Spanish class where the teacher very generously allowed me to present a poem by Garcia Lorca entitled The Rider’s Song. I first read this short but haunting piece in my high school Spanish class 30 years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.

As with many poems, there probably is not a single, definitive interpretation. We can learn about the poet and his influences but The Rider’s Song leaves a lot of room to speculate about Lorca’s intent. Does the poem relate to something specific in the poet’s life or to more generalized fears? Was Lorca referring to himself or is he recounting a story he heard about a traveler from long ago? Questions to ponder as you read the poem itself:

“The Rider’s Song”

Córdoba

Far away and alone.

Small black horse, large moon,

and olives in my saddle bags.

Although I may know the roads

I never will arrive in Córdoba.

Through the plains, through the wind,

small black horse, red moon.

Death is looking at me

from the towers of Córdoba.

Oh that the road is so long!

Oh my valiant pony!

Oh, that death awaits me,

before arriving in Córdoba.

Córdoba

Far away and alone.

(Spanish version available at the bottom)

This poem was part of a body of work that established the multi-talented Lorca as one of Spain’s most influential writers and poets of the 20th century. As someone who not especially well versed in poetry, I decided to learn about the poet and the times in which he lived to try to decipher his words.

History of Andalusia

Garcia Lorca was born in southern Spain in a region called Andalusia which is the seat of much of Spanish culture we know today. Those traditions reflect centuries of migrations and invasions by numerous peoples from three continents who have made contributions to a continually evolving culture dating back thousands of years.

Andalusia stretches from Portugal to the Mediterranean encompassing a varied geography including the Sierra-Nevada Mountain range, steep valleys cut by the Guadalquivir River and coastal cities. The climate varies from snowy mountain peaks to arid desert to warmth and rich soils characteristic of the northern Mediterranean rim allowing for vineyards and olive groves.

Like other European nations, the origins of Spanish culture precede written history. Nomadic tribes homos sapiens appeared in Spain circa 50,000 BC. Nomadic clans evolved into an agrarian Bronze Age population by about 4,000 BC. Southern Spain began experiencing an influx of outside cultures when Phoenicians traders (from modern Lebanon) settled on the Atlantic coast circa 900 BC in what is now Cadiz. Greek and Carthaginian adventurers built coastal trading colonies beginning in the 500s BC. Rome began asserting itself by defeating the Greeks in the mid 3rd century BC. Spain, or Hispania as it was then known, came under Carthaginian rule.

Soon Hispania became a focal point in the Roman-Carthaginian struggle for control of the Mediterranean. The great Roman General Scipio Africanus captured the Iberian Peninsula on his way to defeating Hannibal at Carthage. From about 200 BC until chaotic 5th century AD, Hispania thrived as a Roman province. Germanic tribes began disrupting and weakening the Western Roman Empire in the 4th century AD. As Rome tottered, Germanic tribes, first the Vandals, then the Visigoths, conquered southern Spain.

In 711 AD, the powerful Umayyads spread from the Middle East across North Africa crossing Gibraltar to absorb Spain as part of a large and powerful Muslim caliphate. They advanced into France where Frankish King Charles Martel halted the Umayyad advance pushing the invaders back to the Pyrenees Mountains. Spain remained firmly in Muslim hands, but not without opposition.

Christian forces began the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula which would take over 700 years to complete. In that time, Arabic cultural influences took root. The Caliphate led the world in the sciences, math, literature and other intellectual pursuits building beautiful mosques, fortresses and palaces. A royal library in Córdoba amassed over 500,000 works including classical Greek translations and other important texts on medicine, science, astronomy, literature, mathematics and history. The University of Córdoba emerged as a leading Medieval European learning center open to Muslim, Christian and Jewish students. Arabic words became part of the Spanish lexicon appearing in place names such as Al-Andalus, Arabic for “Land of the Vandals” and Guadalquivir meaning “the great river.”

Architectural monuments such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra fortress in Granada testify to the lasting Arabic influence. Arabic music, poetry, architecture and learning intermixed with a Spanish culture that had already absorbed much from invaders and merchants of Middle Eastern, African and European descent.

Other peoples entered Spain as well. Several million Berbers migrated from North Africa during the Caliphate era. As Spain transitioned from Islam to Catholicism, large numbers of gypsies migrated onto the Iberian Peninsula with many settling in Andalusia. Originally a nomadic tribe from the Indian subcontinent, gypsies entered Europe in the Middle Ages arriving in Spain in the 1450s. Berbers and gypsies added their cultural influences to the mix.

By the 1400s, the Caliphate had broken up into several rival Muslim principalities facing increasingly powerful Christian kingdoms to the north. Aragon and Castile finally managed to oust the Muslims from their last Spanish strongholds in 1492. Once they consolidated power, Spanish Catholics forced Muslims and Jews to either convert to Christianity (conversos) or be exiled. The Spanish drive to purify the nation further manifested itself in the Inquisition. Through all the changes, Andalusia somehow managed to retain enclaves of Jews, gypsies and other non-Christian groups.

Spain emerged as the dominant European power in the 16th century as part of the Holy Roman Empire. At the height of his power, Hapsburg ruler Charles V and his successor and son Philip II claimed one of the world’s largest empires stretching from Spain, central Europe, Italy to vast colonies in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

The failed Spanish Armada of 1588 initiated a slow decline in Spain’s international status and fortunes. By the 19th century, Spain was a relatively poor and politically unstable country. Those supporting a more democratic constitutional monarchy faced off against royalists intent on retaining an absolutist Spanish crown. The struggle bled into the 20th century with a series of military dictatorships who dominated the government until 1931. Elections brought republicans to power but the Great Depression left the government weak. Frequent violence marked this long see-saw battle for power between a leftist conglomeration of republicans, communists and anarchists and a rightwing nationalistic/royalist faction.-

Ferderico García Lorca (1898-1936)

Federico Garcia Lorca was born to Jewish parents near Granada in the midst of this turmoil. By the dawn of the 20th century, Lorca’s native Andalusia was a poor region, populated by farm workers, laborers and gypsies. Lorca demonstrated exceptional musical abilities at an early age, learning to play piano. By his late teens, he began composing poetry that he read in local restaurants and stages. Not content with one form of expression, Lorca went to college in Madrid in 1919 becoming part of the “Generation of ‘27” which included prominent Spanish artists and writers such as Salvador Dalí. These associations exposed him to surrealism and symbolism. Later, Lorca traveled to New York City spending two years studying literature and writing.

Lorca began staging theatrical productions, writing poetry and composing songs that reflected modern artistic influences combined with Arabic, Catholic and gypsy traditions from Andalusia set to a musical rhythm. He described his work as a “carved altar piece” of Andalusia with “gypsies, horses, archangels, planets, its Jewish and Roman breezes, rivers, crimes, the everyday touch of the smuggler and the celestial note of the naked children of Córdoba.” [1] His poetry and plays highlighted turmoil in modern Spain with frequent references to unrest and death.

As the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Nationalist right-wing forces arrested Lorca because of his leftist political views. He was never seen again and was undoubtedly executed shortly after his detention. Nationalists burned his books outlawing his plays and poetry for decades. Nevertheless, Lorca’s work survived and he is widely regarded today as one of the most influential writers in Spanish history.

The Rider’s Song

The Rider’s Song appeared in the late 1920s. In thinking about how to present the poem to 8th graders with limited experience interpreting poetry, I formulated basic questions to break down the sentiments and images before trying to better understand how Lorca assembled them into the text of his poem. The first lines open innocuously describing a long journey. Just a few words conjure an image of an isolated destination, Córdoba, in the distance amidst a spare terrain.

The narrator never identifies himself giving the reader only four details: he is riding a small black horse at night on a familiar course and has olives in his saddlebag. Thus far, the journey seems pleasant enough, a leisurely ride on a long but well-lit road with food to sustain the trip. The stanza ends on a dark note though: the rider will never arrive at his destination.

The next stanza sets a very different tone. The moon is now red, a clear allusion to death. The setting is now much darker, reddish lighting on a road with winds that impede progress—especially for a small horse. The trip will not be leisurely after all, but a struggle. Death is personified as a predator watching from the towers of Córdoba waiting to pounce.

Thus far the narrator has offered a dispassionate description. The third stanza introduces emotion. The exclamations add a note of desperation and hopelessness. The purpose of the trip remains a mystery, but there is an air of inevitability with no thought of turning back. Just as the rider must make his journey, death will most certainly take him before he arrives at Córdoba.

The poem ends with the same words with which it opened. However, now that the reader knows death is imminent, the tone and meaning of “Córdoba, alone and far away” has a much different connotation.

The structure and form of The Rider’s Song draws from numerous sources and Lorca’s musical background. The short repetitive lines came out of a musical tradition: the cante jondo, an old Andalusian form of song with roots dating back to the Phoenicians, modified by Greeks, Arabs, and gypsies. Cante jondo inspired and is contained in Andalusia’s distinctive flamenco music and dance. Use of “Ay” in the third stanza in particular is a frequent feature of canto jondo lyrics.

Lorca expanded on the subject:

“‘cante jondo’ approaches the rhythm of the birds and to the natural music of the black poplar and the waves; it’s simple in oldness and style. Then it is a rare example of primitive song, the oldest of all Europe, where the ruins of history, the lyrical fragment eaten by the sand, appear live like the first morning of its life. . . .

The adoption of the Spanish church of the Lithurgic songs, the Saracen [Muslim] invasion, which for the third time brought to the Spanish Peninsula a new flood of African blood, and the arrival of many gypsy groups. These are the nomadic and enigmatic people who give form to the ‘cante jondo.’” [2]

There is a timeless sense to the poem. His words seems to spring from “the ruins of history” to “appear live like the first morning of life.” The narrator is travelling by horse to Córdoba, the center of Arabic Spain which implies this story took place in Medieval times. However, Córdoba first appears in history through Hannibal who named the settlement Kartuba, or Kart-Juba after the place where one of his allies, Juba, King of the Numidians died. The Romans later established the city a provincial capital renaming it Corduba. Additionally, in an impoverished 20th century Andalusia, small horses or donkeys served as the most common form of transport. Conflict marked much of Spain’s history whether it be a clash between Carthaginians and Romans, rival Muslim principalities, Catholic-Muslim conflict or Nationalist-Republican tensions. Thus, the rider could have been one of several nationalities from different eras facing dangers endemic to his times.

The poem could have also been an allusion to Lorca’s own life. He may have been writing an allegory for a particularly difficult challenge he faced that seemed insurmountable. Personally, I support the view of many critics who hold that the poem reflects Lorca’s fears about the political upheaval in Spain. As a prominent artist with far-left views and, he was a likely target of nationalist forces. His fears were well founded. The Rider’s Song foreshadows Lorca’s real-life fate.

Because of the lack of detail and timeless quality, the poem still speaks to a contemporary audience. Further, the poem humanizes individuals from the past facing fears and uncertainties. I hope you enjoyed reading The Rider’s Song as much as I did and welcome any thoughts on the meaning of the poem.

Here are two performances of The Rider’s Song. The differing presentation affects our perception of the poem and its themes.

Spanish poet Alberto Sanchez de Puerta:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDV5AQohcy0

Spanish musician Paco Ibanez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPQKuS6F1dc

My research also revealed a great deal about flamenco music. Lorca’s thoughts demonstrate a strong link between canto jondo and flamenco music:

“There is no doubt that the guitar has given form to many of the Andalusian songs, because they had to apply to its tonal constitution, an evidence of this is with the songs that are sung without it, like the “martinetes” and the “jelianas”, the melodic form changes completely and acquires a greater freedom and impetu, more direct or less constructed. The guitar in the “cante jondo”, has to be limited to mark rhythm and follow the singer; its a filling for the voice and must be subordinated to the singer.

Flamenco music came from dance and musical traditions that began with the Phoenicians in Cadiz and was gradually altered by the influences of subsequent cultures. Malagueña has long been a favorite of mine. It is a flamenco composition that demonstrated how music can spread over great distances. Cuban musician Ernesto Lecuona composed the song, but the melody came from American Romantic Classical composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s “Souvenirs d’Andalousie.” [3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT-O4utNPI0

Gottschalk’s tune is unmistakable in Lecuona’s Malagueña:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTXa6FFnPI0

Footnotes:

[1] Wolfman, Ursula Rehn, “Federico García Lorca – Manuel de Falla – The Andalusian Heritage in Poetry, Music and Art.” Interlude, 7/13/2012, https://interlude.hk/federico-garcia-lorca-manuel-de-falla-the-andalusian-heritage-in-poetry-music-and-art/

[2] Lorca, Federico Garcia, “Cante Jondo.” 1931, https://archive.is/20011224172622/http://www.laguitarra.net/ICanteJondo.htm#selection-241.0-241.37

[3] Ibid.

Sources:

Anonymous, “What is Flamenco?” Northwest Folklife, https://www.nwfolklife.org/flamenco/

Anonymous, “History of Andalusia.” Andalusia-web, http://www.andalusia-web.com/history_details.htm

Lorca, Federico Garcia, “Cante Jondo.” 1931, https://archive.is/20011224172622/http://www.laguitarra.net/ICanteJondo.htm#selection-241.0-241.37

Rodriguez, Vincente, “Andalusia Region, Spain.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Andalusia-region-Spain

Herrera Y Sánchez. “Cante Jondo: The Soul of Andalusia.” Hispania 36, no. 1 (1953): 88-90. doi:10.2307/334747.

Wolfman, Ursula Rehn, “Federico García Lorca – Manuel de Falla – The Andalusian Heritage in Poetry, Music and Art.” Interlude, 7/13/2012, https://interlude.hk/federico-garcia-lorca-manuel-de-falla-the-andalusian-heritage-in-poetry-music-and-art/

Wolfman, Ursula Rehn, “New Concepts in Music and Art – Flamenco – Picasso – Gaudí – Dalí.” Interlude, 6/12/2012, https://interlude.hk/new-concepts-in-music-and-art-flamenco-picasso-gaudi-dali/

En español:

Canción del jinete

Córdoba

Lejana y sola.

Jaca negra, luna grande,

Y aceitunas en mi alforja.

Aunque sepa los caminos

yo nunca llegaré a Córdoba

Por el llano, por el viento

Jaca negra, luna roja.

La muerte me está mirando

desde las torres de Córdoba.

¡Ay qué camino tan largo!

¡Ay mi jaca valerosa

¡Ay que la muerte me espera,

antes de llegar de Córdoba!

Córdoba

Lejana y sola.

All images and videos are in the public domain and subject to Fair Use Laws

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