Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) was one of the greatest Spanish poets and dramatists. His 1928 volume Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads) is considered a core work of world literature. Combining the tension of Greek tragedies with vernacular surrealism, his dramas became classics of 20th century literature with ferocious speed. He trained to be a musician and was greatly influenced by Manuel de Falla. A devotee of surrealism from a young age, his best friends were Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel. His performances as a poet, by all accounts enthralling, would have even enormous theatres packed to the rafters. In intolerant Catholic Spain, his homosexuality was a constant thorn in his side, and he wrote on this topic in several poems and plays with a sincerity at odds with the era. In August of 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War sparked by Franco, the fascists seized him. After shooting him dead, they dumped his body in a mass grave near Granada.
Along with performances of Lorca's poems by Hermina Fátyol, Kamilla Fátyol and Tamás Fodor, this evening will also feature readings from documents about his life, excerpts from his essay on Spanish folk music and depictions of scenes from his early surrealist pieces. Performing works by Manuel de Falla and Debussy will be Balázs Fülei, with opera singer Lilla Horti interpreting some of Lorca's arrangements of folk songs alongside András Csáki.
"It will be a long time, if ever, before there is born
an Andalusian so true, so rich in adventure.
I sing of his elegance with words that groan,
and I remember a sad breeze through the olive trees.”
(Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías)

The works to be presented on the evening translated by István Tótfalusi, László András, Sándor Weöres, Imre Molnár, Zsuzsa Rab, György Somlyó, Júlia Kada, Judit Xantus, György Timár, Ágnes Nagy Nemes, László Nagy, Gábor Garai, István Eörsi, Gyula Illyés and István Vas

Presented by: Müpa Budapest