Agustin Barrios Mangore Site: La Catedral by Agustin Barrios Mangore

This is without doubt Barrios’ most played composition. The original work consisted of two movements: Andante Religioso and Allegro Solemne. Written around 1921.

He was inspired by an experience he had entering the Cathedral of San José in Montevideo. The Andante with its broad chords represent his impressions of an organist playing Bach in the cathedral. The Allegro represent the sensation when he leaves the calm atmosphere of the cathedral. He enters into the street, the real world, where everyone is in a hurry and doesn’t have time to think. He represents this perfectly with incessant 16th note figures.

The Preludio Saudade was written several years later, in 1938, in Havana, Cuba. He later decided to add it to La Catedral, I suppose to have a complete work in the “classical” vein.

1. Preludio Saudade