II: xylomarimba, 1 sizzle cymbal, 3 suspended cymbals, 3 gongs, anvil, 2

m’tumbas, 1 tambourine, 2 bongos, 4 woodblocks, 2 stones (struck together), 1

guiro, maracas; + on stage: 2 m’tumbas, 2 bongos, Panduro, 2 standing cymbals.
III: vibraphone II, set of crotales, 3 Chinese cymbals, anvil, 2 stones (struck
together), 3 cymbals on felt, 3 tam-tams, 3 woodblocks, claves, jazzoflute,
double-bass tom, high side drum (tarole); + on stage: 4 tom-toms (A, D, A flat, D
flat), crotale, maracas.
! Publisher: Billaudot, 1993
‘An actor friend had asked me for stage music for La Célestine, which he wanted
to perform in the cathedral square in Salamanca. That was in 1981. It didn’t come
to pass, but I set to reading the play by Fernando de Rojas more closely. It gave
me an impression of vitality: a rapid, almost mad, current ran beyond the plot. I
was fascinated. Gradually, the character of Célestine exerted a sort of seduction
on me—Célestine is magic. And moreover, there was matter there for a theatrical
musical drama, calling on everything, just as I had always sought and wanted.’
‘I divided the play into 9 tableaux rather than into traditional acts. The rhythm of
events is much terser than in opera—it’s almost like film.’
‘The succession of scenes and their nature are akin to those of similar nature that
I admired in certain films.’
‘The processes of articulation and transition of Polanski or Fellini (the latter in
Satyricon and Roma) encouraged me to attempt analogous processes in my
works. Finally, Chaplin and Buñuel sometimes suggested details of humorous
scenes that punctuate nearly all my stage works.’
‘In La Célestine, the orchestra plays a double role: first that of creating a sound
landscape; then, as in mediaeval music, doubling the voices, not only to reassure
them, but to give them an unusual colour through a very intimate blending of
instrument and voice, to the degree that, at times, they merge.’

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