La Reina

Description

La reina (1898) is Torres’ best known piece. The story behind the composition is obscure, but there are two versions. Supposedly it was first named “Los Aires del Milagro” (The Miracle’s Airs), inspired by Lake Maracaibo. After the first performance at the Club Comercio, Maracaibo, in 1898, Willy Larsen, a wealthy person who was a good friend of Torres and probably the commissioner of the piece, changed its name to “La reina,” stating that it was the queen of the contradanzas. Another version says that he composed it while in a tour in the United States with the group Estudiantina Venezolana. The present arrangement for clarinet and string trio was made in 2012 and premiered at the Festival Nuevo Mundo the same year.