Christmas Songs

Jaime León's Christmas songs are cheerful, rhythmic and poetic; in some moments, grandiloquent, elegant, in other intimate and delicate. These vital songs communicate very well the Christmas spirit, expressing the joy of the celebration of the birth of Christ. The Canciones de Navidad, are with no doubt, an essential part of the art song Christmas repertoire in Spanish.

The book includes The song cycle Canciones de Navidad on poetry by Rigoberto Cordero. Rigoberto Cordero y León (Cuenca, Ecuador, 1944-2001), was an important Ecuadorian poet, essayist and music critic. The cycle is fascinating because it integrates very varied elements that include harmonies reminiscent of those of American musical theater and Colombian folk rhythms such as Bambuco. The syncopated rhythm of Bambuco appears in El asnillo y el buey and Cancioncilla de Navidad.

Another Christmas-themed song that does not belong to the cycle is Canción de Noel, with text by Eduardo Castillo. Considered a Parnassian, symbolist and modernist poet, Eduardo Castillo (Zipaquirá, Colombia, 1889 - Bogotá, 1938) was a regular visitor of coffees and literary gatherings