00:00:42.350 --> 00:00:49.034
I tend to think of Rodrigo and his
music almost as a haunted house.

00:00:49.035 --> 00:00:55.844
If you look from the outside you really
don't know that inside is another world.

00:06:00.020 --> 00:06:05.564
Rodrigo talks in very visual terms.

00:06:05.565 --> 00:06:11.984
He doesn't seem to not know
how anything around him is.

00:06:11.985 --> 00:06:17.414
And of course this is because
of Victoria.

00:06:17.415 --> 00:06:23.294
She's constantly telling
him, in full details,

00:06:23.295 --> 00:06:26.144
everything that is happening.

00:06:28.830 --> 00:06:33.464
She has read to him, every day.

00:06:33.465 --> 00:06:38.414
She tells him the colors of the trees,

00:06:38.415 --> 00:06:42.404
the movement with the breeze,

00:06:42.405 --> 00:06:51.405
and completely devoted her life to
become Joaquin Rodrigo's eyes.

00:07:05.870 --> 00:07:07.559
He's now very old,

00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:13.124
he's lived through a
turbulent century, he's blind.

00:07:13.125 --> 00:07:21.125
And yet his music suggests an ideal
Spain full of light, full of beauty.

00:08:09.999 --> 00:08:14.560
A man in his century has
to have an awareness of politics.

00:08:14.561 --> 00:08:19.904
A man from his country has
got to think about politics.

00:08:19.905 --> 00:08:26.969
But the works tell you that what is
important to Rodrigo is eternal Spain--

00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:31.274
not the Spain of General Franco or of
King Juan Carlos or of Primo de Rivera.

00:08:31.275 --> 00:08:33.490
He's lived through all these people.

00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:36.149
It's the Spain of Cervantes,
of San Juan de la Cruz,

00:08:36.150 --> 00:08:40.634
of Antonio Machado,
of Velazquez, of Goya.

00:08:40.635 --> 00:08:45.794
This is a real Spain for Rodrigo,
and perhaps because he's blind

00:08:45.795 --> 00:08:50.144
it's that real-- much more real
than it can be even even for us.

00:08:50.145 --> 00:08:53.999
Because it's all internalized
and living.

00:21:35.999 --> 00:21:40.080
From those early years in Paris on,
Rodrigo's been a prolific composer--

00:21:40.999 --> 00:21:43.999
11 concertos, orchestral
and choral music,

00:21:43.999 --> 00:21:48.629
more than 60 songs, piano pieces,
music for the church, the cinema,

00:21:48.630 --> 00:21:54.284
the theatre-- and yet
the world knows of him

00:21:54.285 --> 00:21:57.374
just because of a single work,

00:21:57.375 --> 00:21:59.999
one of the most famous pieces
of music ever written.

00:25:13.430 --> 00:25:18.014
You know, how this movement
was conceived--

00:25:18.015 --> 00:25:23.249
Rodrigo and Vicky got married and they
spent their honeymoon in Aranjuez.

00:25:23.250 --> 00:25:28.439
Then they left for Germany,

00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:35.504
and they had their first
baby that was born dead.

00:25:35.505 --> 00:25:37.999
But he only lets his
feelings out with his music.

00:25:45.650 --> 00:25:49.619
And Rodrigo went back to his room--

00:25:49.620 --> 00:25:52.034
his wife was still in the hospital--

00:25:52.035 --> 00:25:55.999
and the pulse in this movement

00:25:55.999 --> 00:26:04.814
is both his own connection to life

00:26:04.815 --> 00:26:10.079
and also his wish that
she doesn't die, to keep her--

00:26:10.080 --> 00:26:16.499
to keep her alive, because she
was in great, great danger also.

00:26:16.500 --> 00:26:24.500
So this pulse becomes
absolutely essential.

00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:55.604
At times, it's very tender music,
filled with love.

00:27:55.605 --> 00:27:59.999
At times it grows very angry,

00:27:58.605 --> 00:28:05.639
telling God, "Why did
you take these child away?"

00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:11.309
And at the same time, frightened,
telling God, "Please don't take Vicky."

00:28:48.860 --> 00:28:55.124
The melody weaves in and out from the
guitar to the various solo instruments.

00:28:55.125 --> 00:28:58.999
And then it's left to the cadenza,

00:29:05.890 --> 00:29:05.890
which is a quiet crying that

00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:12.614
get more and more introverted.

00:29:12.615 --> 00:29:15.210
and at the same time searching for God.

00:29:49.910 --> 00:29:51.009
And so the final outburst--

00:29:51.009 --> 00:29:56.010
The final outburst is with your 2d.

00:29:56.010 --> 00:30:00.374
That is where all of the emotions
have a complete outburst,

00:30:00.375 --> 00:30:03.999
when Rodrigo not only
talks to God but hears God.

00:31:30.999 --> 00:31:32.599
He gets resigned.

00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:37.515
He realizes that he must
leave everything in the hands of God,

00:31:37.515 --> 00:31:43.064
and he gets a feeling of peace and
acceptance of what has happened.

00:31:43.065 --> 00:31:49.999
And it comes with a very nostalgic but
very peaceful-- sad but peaceful.

00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:35.920
The second movement ends with
a sustaining of the strings

00:32:37.550 --> 00:32:41.399
and the ascension of
the soul of the baby,

00:32:41.399 --> 00:32:44.999
as the guitar plays
the ascending harmonics.

00:35:04.670 --> 00:35:09.999
I've always thought that simplicity and
directness are essential features

00:35:09.999 --> 00:35:16.034
both of Rodrigo-- the man I've
come to know-- and of his music.

00:35:16.035 --> 00:35:21.209
He's one of the great
melodists of the 20th century,

00:35:21.210 --> 00:35:27.479
and simplicity, clarity, order, are
essential features of his music--

00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:31.009
both the tunes he composes and
the musical forms he uses.

00:41:40.850 --> 00:41:48.499
I have seen him go from being
a very talkative person,

00:41:48.499 --> 00:41:56.925
a man who love to joke and to laugh
and to speak with his friends,

00:41:56.925 --> 00:42:02.114
to become almost an absolute introvert

00:42:02.115 --> 00:42:06.999
that it becomes very difficult for him
to say anything.

00:42:07.999 --> 00:42:12.269
Rodrigo has become very very quiet,

00:42:12.270 --> 00:42:19.999
just observing, almost like the only
thing that is important to him now

00:42:19.999 --> 00:42:23.799
is the search for peace.

00:47:12.770 --> 00:47:20.770
(singing)

00:47:48.999 --> 00:47:54.584
Vicky was born into
a Sephardic Jewish family,

00:47:54.585 --> 00:47:58.694
and Joaquin was raised
as a Spanish Catholic.

00:47:58.695 --> 00:48:03.809
You can actually hear both influences
in his music, and most clearly

00:48:03.810 --> 00:48:09.001
in his great religious work, the
"Cantico de San Francisco de Asis."

00:48:17.030 --> 00:48:20.129
The piece is extraordinary
because he begins with the

00:48:20.130 --> 00:48:23.954
simplest of musical means,
a solo flute.

00:48:23.955 --> 00:48:29.339
He's answered by a solo horn, and
then the choir hums two chords.

00:48:29.340 --> 00:48:30.999
You could not have simpler means,

00:48:30.999 --> 00:48:37.184
and yet the effect is breathtaking,
the effect is totally original.

00:48:37.185 --> 00:48:44.999
It's as though he's inviting you into
this world and setting a kind of mood--

00:48:44.999 --> 00:48:49.799
almost a spiritual attitude, if you like--
before you hear any of the words,

00:48:49.799 --> 00:48:53.001
so that everyone is put
in a state of grace.

00:51:26.510 --> 00:51:34.999
I think that the most difficult task
lies not in Joaquin Rodrigo

00:51:34.999 --> 00:51:45.999
but in those who live around him,
to know just how to let him be

00:51:45.999 --> 00:51:52.040
the unusual genius that he is.

00:54:10.760 --> 00:54:15.999
In Spain, the muses that inspire the art

00:54:15.999 --> 00:54:21.999
is not just the muse as is known,
as is pictured

00:54:21.999 --> 00:54:24.999
in the northern European countries--
in all the other countries--

00:54:24.999 --> 00:54:32.999
as this beautiful, perfect-looking
blonde woman that is all beauty.

00:54:32.999 --> 00:54:36.689
In Spain, we have that muse,

00:54:36.690 --> 00:54:38.299
but we also have the duende.

00:54:43.970 --> 00:54:49.001
And the duende is a spirit that is
not always beautiful--

00:54:49.001 --> 00:54:53.999
it represents pain,
it represents suffering.

00:54:55.660 --> 00:55:02.329
There we enter a world which
is very real to Rodrigo.

00:55:02.330 --> 00:55:06.004
And this is a dark world,

00:55:06.005 --> 00:55:10.799
this is the world of the
"Invocacion y Danza."

00:57:56.330 --> 00:58:03.999
I have seen Rodrigo become
so frightened that he has cried.

00:58:03.999 --> 00:58:10.145
He has become almost like a
child in the middle of a nightmare.

00:58:11.990 --> 00:58:15.999
And this is when I held him.

00:58:15.999 --> 00:58:19.999
And he knew who I was,
and he said to me,

00:58:19.999 --> 00:58:24.044
"Pepe, I don't know who I am.

00:58:24.045 --> 00:58:26.474
"I don't know who I am."

00:58:26.475 --> 00:58:30.014
And he was crying this to me,

00:58:30.015 --> 00:58:33.999
and this is when I took out the guitar
and I played his music for him.

00:58:33.999 --> 00:58:35.999
And I said, "This is who you are."

00:58:41.960 --> 00:58:45.059
And I played for him,

00:58:45.060 --> 00:58:51.001
and within moments the
crisis was completely over.

00:58:56.330 --> 00:59:04.244
I am sure that if instead of me
being there it had been a doctor,

00:59:04.245 --> 00:59:12.245
he would have found a name with an
illness to qualify this behavior.

00:59:15.140 --> 00:59:21.764
To me, I felt that I was witnessing

00:59:21.765 --> 00:59:29.765
something essential in the mind of
this creator that is Rodrigo.

01:00:25.190 --> 01:00:30.999
The frightening experiences
that Rodrigo has felt,

01:00:30.999 --> 01:00:34.999
that so clearly torture him,

01:00:34.999 --> 01:00:38.799
have a tendency to drive
the people around him

01:00:38.799 --> 01:00:40.999
to try to take the suffering away.

01:00:44.060 --> 01:00:51.001
Of course the doctors,
when they treat the man

01:00:51.001 --> 01:00:54.001
and take away these demons
and these witches,

01:00:54.001 --> 01:00:57.999
they also have gotten
rid of the inspiration

01:01:03.230 --> 01:01:09.999
Since his treatment, the man
has not felt these demons,

01:01:09.999 --> 01:01:17.999
but we have not had music from
Rodrigo for awhile since then.

01:01:48.020 --> 01:01:54.374
Well, 1982 is the last year
of the great works of Rodrigo.

01:01:54.375 --> 01:01:59.114
It seems as though in his 80th
year he made a great effort.

01:01:59.115 --> 01:02:01.889
And although these words
are by Saint Francis of Assisi,

01:02:01.890 --> 01:02:07.469
I think they express perfectly
what Rodrigo himself believes,

01:02:07.470 --> 01:02:09.399
because they are concerned with
a celebration of the beauty

01:02:09.399 --> 01:02:12.999
of the world and of the universe
and of Man's place in it.

01:03:28.250 --> 01:03:32.594
Saint Francis was within two
or three months of his death.

01:03:32.595 --> 01:03:34.999
He was blind,
he was extremely ill.

01:03:34.999 --> 01:03:38.999
And yet although the poem
makes reference to such things,

01:03:38.999 --> 01:03:41.999
it's nevertheless an
expression of joy.

01:03:42.299 --> 01:03:44.101
And it's a poem of total acceptance.

01:03:44.101 --> 01:03:46.499
I think this is the
most important thing.

01:03:46.499 --> 01:03:52.949
Saint Francis accepts
illness, death, poverty, joyously.

01:03:52.950 --> 01:03:55.999
He says this is part of life.
And Rodrigo, I think,

01:03:55.999 --> 01:04:00.899
certainly as far as his own disability's
concerned, has done exactly that.

01:05:38.399 --> 01:05:44.799
(conversing and singing
"Happy Birthday" in Spanish)

01:06:29.540 --> 01:06:38.999
I feel very strongly, seeing him
the last few times,

01:06:38.999 --> 01:06:46.049
that there is a wonderful work
of music inside of him.

01:06:46.050 --> 01:06:50.819
And that it is this
creation inside of him

01:06:50.820 --> 01:06:55.999
that has taken the
words from his mouth.

01:06:58.760 --> 01:07:02.439
His mind is a cavern

01:07:02.439 --> 01:07:10.498
where all the mysteries, all the drama,
all the tragedy, all the splendor,

01:07:10.499 --> 01:07:16.999
all the joy of Spain,
is completely alive.

01:07:24.440 --> 01:07:31.440
I have seen the haunted side of Rodrigo,
and I have also been inspired

01:07:31.440 --> 01:07:32.999
by the joy of his art.

01:07:34.399 --> 01:07:38.999
The man and his music
have melded into one,

01:07:38.999 --> 01:07:43.499
and will exist like that
for all eternity.