Altar de Muertos

The tradition of Mexico’s Day of the Dead festivities inspired the creation of this work for string quartet, whose ideas reflect an inner search between the real and the magical—a duality that has always been a part of Mexican culture, from the past to the present.

Altar de Muertos is divided into four parts, each describing diverse moods, traditions and spiritual worlds that shape the broader Mexican concept of death, as well as my own personal vision of it.

First part: "Ofrenda." This movement depicts the visit of four spirits to the altar, each singing his or her own ofrenda (“offering”). Toward the end, the four spirits converge in a single chant, like the closing of a funeral procession.

Second part: "Mictlan." Pre-Hispanic culture conceived of death as a cycle in constant motion—a continuum in which life extends toward death and death, in turn, becomes the essence of life. The passage of death, and the eternal struggle between night and day, are expressed through obsessive, ritualistic music that moves continuously, with its starting and ending points always intertwined.

Third part: "Danza Macabra." Human life is like a shadow. The arrival of European culture in Mexico and Mesoamerica introduced an image of death that is static and motionless, defined by a constant tension between glory and damnation. This music is inspired by a series of fantastic, ever-shifting images—where phantasmagoria and magic are always present.

Fourth part: "La Calaca." Here, the syncretism and concept of death in modern Mexico emerge in all their chaos and richness of symbols, where the duality of life is ever-present: sacred and profane, good and evil, night and day, joy and sorrow. This movement reflects a musical world full of joy, vitality, and expressive power.

At the end of “La Calaca,” I quote a melody of Huichol origin that captivated me the first time I heard it. It was sung by Familia de la Cruz. The Huichol people live in the state of Nayarit, Mexico, and their music is deeply rooted in ceremonial and ritual life.

— Gabriela Ortiz