1519-1522
Fifth Centenary of the Magellan-Elcano Expedition
Historians call the historical period from the 15th to the 17th centuries the Age of Discovery. The voyages of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, and Núñez de Balboa shaped the world as we know it today.
Of all of them, the Magellan-Elcano expedition has fascinated me the most since childhood: the westward journey intended to reach the Spice Islands, which would become the first circumnavigation of the globe.
However, throughout the research process I undertook to create Todos los mundos, I discovered that, even with the undeniable epic nature of those feats, this was also a story with a bitter, dark, and violent side. A reflection of human nature itself, capable of both the noblest and bravest actions and the greatest betrayals and evils.
Turning that story into music, with all its nuances and facets, its light and shadow, its protagonists, its sacrifices, its successes and its failures, has been a project of more than two years.
Now I can share this music, close my eyes, feel the waves and the sea air, and travel with those sailors to all the worlds…
“In the course of history, it is always a wonderful thing when the genius of a man unites with the genius of the hour, when an isolated being understands, with vision, the creative yearning of his time.”
Magallanes. La aventura más audaz de la humanidad. Stefan Zweig, 1945.