Las siete edades del hombre

Abstract

Este texto –relativo a un concierto ‘a capella’ interpretado en el Simposio Internacional <Cruzamentos disciplinares em Educação e Humanidades>, celebrado en la Facultad de letras de la Universidad de Coimbra [Portugal]- se ha inspirado en el soliloquio del melancólico Jaques, pronunciado en el Acto Dos, Escena VII de la comedia de William Shakespeare As You Like It (“Como Gustéis”) de 1599, en el que describe las “Siete Edades del Hombre” (“Seven Ages of Man”). En su monólogo Jaques expone de manera fatalista siete etapas de la vida humana: la infancia, la niñez, la juventud enamorada, etapas como soldado y como juez, la senectud y la muerte. Yo, por el contrario, doy un paseo musical por siete etapas de la vida un poco diferentes: la infancia, la niñez, la alegría, el amor, el desamor, la vejez y la muerte.

This text accompanies an 'a capella' concert performed at the 'Cruzamentos disciplinares em Educação e Humanidades' International Symposium held at the Facultad de Letras, University of Coimbra, Portugal. The concert was inspired by Jaques' soliloquy 'The Seven Ages of Man' from Shakespeare's As You Like It (1599). Jaques depicts the roles of men and women who are “merely players” on the world's stage: they play their parts in infancy and childhood, as lovers, soldiers, and judges, in old age and death. The songs chosen for this concert, sung in five languages in a variety of musical styles, take the listener through seven slightly different stages of life: infancy, childhood, the joys of youth, love, lost love, old age and death.