Chapter 22 of When I Was a Child in Ferrol

22. Gorses And Flowers

Hispavox HH 16-432 (EP). Year 1963

According to the article written by José E. Lage Pedreira on page 8 of El Correo Gallego, 17 May 1963, Ferrol edition, the idea of creating the choir was discussed and approved at a big get-together that took place in the locale of the Airiños D'A Miña Terra Association toward the middle of December 1914. Emilio Bidegain Lázaro who chaired the meeting moved the creation of a folk chorale "similar to Pontevedra's Aires d'a Terra" and proposed the name, Toxos E Froles (Gorses And Flowers) for it. The declared aim was to preserve and exalt Galician folklore. His motion carried unanimously and the chorale's rehearsals began in earnest at the same temporary location on January 2, 1915. Note: Aires d'a Terra's first gramophone record, dated 1904, is part of the soundtrack for this 1929 documentary (End of Note).

The first public performance of Toxos E Froles took place in Teatro Jofre on May 29, 1915. The public's response was enthusiastic and the occasion ended with the encore, Dous Amores.

As a result of their active labour of promotion the choir's fond ambitions were realized and in a short period of time across Galicia there was seen, with natural satisfaction, the birth of similar associations. These did with great effort, with overflowing enthusiasm and with a pure love for the land, such a feat of cultural promotion that in a few years, it may be said, no popular music was embraced but ours.

Toxos E Froles sang at the homages paid to Antonio Rey Soto, Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, Sofía Casanova, Perfecto Feijóo, at the fundraisers for impressive monuments in honour of Manuel Curros Enríquez, the Ferrolian soldiers fallen in Africa, Concepción Arenal, Rosalía de Castro, and at many other "charity or patriotic" festivals. The venue for the indoor performances of Toxos E Froles in Ferrol was either Teatro Jofre or Teatro New England across the street. The "New England" was eventually demolished to make way for the Post and Telegraph Office.

Toxos E Froles sang before the king and queen of Spain in July 1922; the monarchs were so impressed that they designated the choir royal status.

Four modern performances of Toxos E Froles follow.

Foliada de Corrubedo

Mira Como Ven (See How He Comes)

O Galopín (The Urchin)

Centenary at Teatro Jofre (duration: 1 hr 5 min)

The choir has of course performed the following three Galician classics. All three are poems set to music.

1.	Negra Sombra (Black Shadow)

This poem published in 1880 was written by Rosalía de Castro.

Cando penso que te fuches,
negra sombra que me asombras,
ó pé dos meus cabezales
tornas facéndome mofa.

Cando maxino que es ida,
no mesmo sol te me amostras,
i eres a estrela que brila,
i eres o vento que zoa.

Si cantan, es ti que cantas,
si choran, es ti que choras,
i es o marmurio do río
i es a noite i es a aurora.

En todo estás e ti es todo,
pra min i en min mesma moras,
nin me abandonarás nunca,
sombra que sempre me asombras.

When I think that you have parted,
Black shadow that overshadows me,
At the foot of my head pillows
You return making fun of me.

When I fancy that you are gone,
From the very sun you taunt me
And you are the star that shines
And you are the wind that moans.

If there is singing it's you who sings,
If there is weeping it's you who weeps,
And you are the river's rumour
And the night and the dawn.

Everywhere you are in everything,
For and within me you live
Nor will you ever leave me,
Shadow that always shades me.

2.	Himno Galego (The Galician Anthem)

The official Galician anthem covers the first four stanzas of the poem "Os Pinos" written in 1895 by Eduardo Pondal.

¿Que din os rumorosos
na costa verdecente,
ao raio transparente
do plácido luar?
¿Que din as altas copas
de escuro arume arpado
co seu ben compasado
monótono fungar?

—Do teu verdor cinguido
e de benignos astros,
confín dos verdes castros
e valeroso chan,
non des a esquecemento
da inxuria o rudo encono;
desperta do teu sono,
fogar de Breogán.

Os bos e xenerosos
a nosa voz entenden,
e con arroubo atenden
o noso rouco son,
mais sóio os iñorantes
e féridos e duros,
imbéciles i escuros
non nos entenden, non.

Os tempos son chegados
dos bardos das idades,
que as vosas vaguedades
cumprido fin terán;
pois, onde quer, xigante
a nosa voz pregoa
a redenzón da boa
nazón de Breogán.

What do the rumorous ones
On the resplendent green coastland
Say to the transparent ray
Of placid, bright moonlight?
What do the tall treetops
Of spiked, dark needles say
With their regular, rhythmic,
Monotonous rumble?

"Girded by your greenery
And by benign celestial bodies,
Bounds of the green ancient-hill-forts
And courageous plain:
Do not strain to forget the offense
With rude stubbornness,
Awake from your slumber,
Home of Breogán.

"The good and generous ones
Understand our voice
And with delight listen
To our droning sound,
But only the ignorant ones
And coarse and cruel ones,
Imbeciles and unenlightened ones
Do not understand us, no.

"The time of the ages
Of bards has arrived
When your vague fancies will find
Ultimate fulfillment
For everywhere gigantic
Our voice proclaims
The redemption of the good
Nation of Breogán."

3.	Unha Noite Na Eira Do Trigo (Once Upon A Night In The Wheat Fields)

This poem published in 1869 was written by Manuel Curros Enríquez.

Unha noite na eira do trigo,
ó refrexo do branco luar,
unha nena choraba sin trégolas
os desdés dun ingrato galán.

I a coitada entre queixas decía:
"Xa no mundo non teño a ninguén,
vou morrer e non ven os meus ollos
os olliños do meu doce ben."

Os seus ecos de malencolía
camiñaban nas alas do vento
i o lamento repetía:
"¡Vou morrer e non ven o meu ben!"

Lonxe dela, de pé sobre a popa
dun aleve negreiro vapor,
emigrado camiño de América
vai o probe, infelís amador.

I ó mirar as xentís anduriñas
cara a terra que deixa cruzar:
"Quen pudera dar volta—pensaba—
quen pudera convosco voar!..."

Mais as aves i o buque fuxían
sin ouír seus amargos lamentos;
soio os ventos repetían:
"¡Quen pudera convosco voar!"

Noites craras de aromas e lúa,
desde entón ¡que tristeza en vos hai
pra os que viron chorar unha nena,
pra os que viron un barco marchar...

Dun amor celestial, verdadeiro,
que non soio de bágoas a proba:
unha cova nun outeiro
i un cadavre no fondo do mar!

Once upon a night in the wheat fields
By the reflected white light of the bright moon
A young girl mourned without pause
The disdain of an ungrateful beau.

And the poor girl said between plaints,
"I have no one left in the world,
I am going to die and my eyes do not see
The dear eyes of my sweet boon."

Her echoes of melancholy
Drifted away on the wings of the wind
And she kept repeating the lament:
"I am going to die and my boon won't come!"

Far away from her, standing at the stern
Of a rogue steamboat slaver,
The unfortunate, forlorn lover
Emigrates en route to America.

And upon watching the gentle swallows
Cross toward the land he is leaving behind:
"Who could turn back," he pondered,
"Who could fly back with you...!"

But the birds and the vessel sped onward
Without hearing his bitter laments,
Only the winds kept repeating:
"Who could fly back with you!"

Clear nights of fragrances and moonlight,
Since then how much sadness you own
For those who saw a young girl weeping,
For those who saw a ship leave port...

Away from a heavenly, genuine love
That is not shown by teardrops alone:
A grave on a lookout
And a corpse on the ocean floor!

Ferrol's New England Theater (1906-1914)