Leslie Allen
Ainadamar (Fountain of Tears) II , 2023
50 x 40
in
oil on cradled panel
Ainadamar is the first opera by composer Osvaldo Golijov, with the title referring to The Fountain of Tears, a natural spring in Granada, where poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca was executed in 1936.
Allen listened to this epic piece countless times while painting, and the range of wild and soulful music never fails to glue her to the easel for intense painting sessions.
Sounds range from bubbling water, hoofbeats, flamenco, rumba, gunshots, and stunning tonal beauty. The opera is scored mostly for women’s voices, with a trio as beautiful as anything I’ve ever heard. It is sheer poetry, with a recurring refrain: “What a sad day it was in Grenada / The stones began to cry.”
