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By Paul Matalucci
American composer Hector Armienta’s new opera, River of Women, is set in the 1940s, near the great river of San Antonio, Texas, and deals with the struggles of a single mother who tries to find a better life for herself and for her daughter. The opera will receive its world premiere showcase at Theater Artaud in San Francisco on May 10, 2001.

The story of River of Women is, in a broader sense, about the struggle of women. It’s also about fate and who’s in control of fate. What gives the work a cultural element is that it’s about a Latino family. And while it’s not an exact print of Mexican musical styles, it draws upon them musically in terms of rhythm and melody and harmony.

River of Women Cast

The legend of La Llorona wasn’t something that Armienta originally incorporated into the opera. Instead, the creative impulse came from Armienta’s desire to investigate the source of his mother’s strength, a search that lead him to his grandmother.

Between 1995 and 1997, Armienta developed the story and began to work on the libretto. During that time, the work was solely about his grandmother and more about her struggle and perseverance.

As the opera developed, it became about the struggle of women and the sacrifices they make for their children. Later, he added a third element, the myth of La Llorona. Adding La Llorona as a vocal character in the beginning of the opera only happened in the very last stages of composition.

As Armienta tells the story, "I was sitting with Jose Maria Condemi, my director, and we were talking about [the opera]. He really felt there was a need for us to see [La Llorona], so I wrote her in. Then it was easier to see Elisa make the journey from the real world to the unreal world."

The finished opera is really two stories: the story of Paula’s struggle, and the story of a young girl who is searching for a home, a place she finds in the river.

In essence, the opera evolved from being about one specific woman, to being about a lot of women and a culture, to being about myth. In terms of scope, the opera evolved from the very specific into something universal.

That development is something Armienta acknowledges. "In order for people to want to hear a story, they have to see themselves in the story and identify their own journey. They have to find a truth in the work."

So where do heterosexual men find themselves in a work about women? Armienta responds, "Don Blas is a man who desperately loves a women, who makes the mistake that I think men sometimes make, which is to try to be a man as opposed to being a person. He buys into the role that people expect of him instead of being who he is, which leads to his downfall."

More About Hector Armienta

"I began as a songwriter, using R&B. From R&B grew my desire to go into musical theater where you can take more liberties, and my songs seemed to be more theatrical. In musical theater there are more emotional changes in one piece than you normally find in a pop song."

Armienta received his first commission from the LA Cultural Affairs Commission. He was asked to compose a chamber work, an effort that produced Grandfather’s Legend, a work that incorporates both European instruments and indigenous instruments from Mexico. The work was presented at the LA Contemporary Museum and aired live on LA’s classical radio station with Armienta performing as a vocalist, drummer, and flutist.

Armienta’s next commission was to write a children’s opera for Opera Pacific. At the time, Opera Pacific was in the midst of developing a program to reach out to the Latino community. The final work was called Camino de Fe (Journey of Faith).

Hector Armienta

For Armienta, the road to life as a composer was neither easy nor direct. "After college, I decided I didn’t want to be a poor musician, so I went into real estate, which I did for about four years. But I wasn’t happy. I would take my scores to open houses to work on my songs, and I realized that money wasn’t what I wanted."

"My teacher always said that being a musician isn’t something that you choose to do, but something that you’re called upon to do. And sometimes you’re reluctant because it’s a difficult life. But it’s just what I had to do."

Fortunately, Armienta’s talents have been recognized by artistic organizations with the funds to commission new work. Another commission, this one from the Pacific Symphony, was for a project with three components: a symphonic piece, a choral piece, and an outreach program.

Around the same time, Armienta received a travel grant from the NEA to do research in Mexico on the relationship between mariachi music and the music of the Huichol Indians, which is based on Aztec rhythms.

Many of the Huichol reside in the state of Nayari in Central Mexico. Using his research, Armienta fulfilled his commission from the Pacific Symphony with a score that told the story of the rise and fall of the Aztecs and the creation of the new state of Mexico.

The piece was first performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Four high schools participated in the choral section, and Armienta worked with an elementary school group that performed on authentic instruments that Armienta had brought back from the Huichol. The piece evolved from the opening music of the Aztec’s to end with mariachi, showing the evolution of the Aztec rhythms all the way mariachi.

"I bring children into my music to introduce and expose part of my culture to as many people as possible, but also to inform and to encourage Latinos to take pride in their history, to develop cultural bridges with music. Our first mission is to be artists. Our second mission is to find ways to tell the stories of our people and to keep them alive in ways that are acceptable to people both inside and outside our community."