Requiem for Sor Juana (Composition 1)

In April 1695, after ministering to the other sisters struck down by a rampant plague, Sor Juana is said to have died at four in the morning on April 17.

MADRE SUPERIOR
Señores y señoras, nuestra hermana Juana Inés fue entregada al Espiritu Santo ya hace unos minutos. Que descanse nuestra Fenix en paz...

4:01 AM Not a hint of morning.

MOURNERS with candles begin their chant procession.

Dies irae, dies illa
Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura
Iudicanti responsura

(Day of Wrath, day that
Death will be stunned and so Nature
When arises man the creature
Responding to the One judging)

Se murió Sor Juana
Sor Juana, difunta
Difunta, Sor Juana
Sor Juana se murió

Sor Juana’s dead
Sor Juana’s gone
Sor Juana’s dead and gone
Into the night
dissipate
flickering light
she is gone

Sor Juana’s dead
Sor Juana’s gone
Sor Juana’s dead and gone
Into the night
dissipate
flickering light
she is gone

[A sphere of light rises and swirls into the air above the mourners.]

SOR JUANA (VO)
I never meant to get this far
I never meant to travel
past the sequins of the silver stars
the universe unravels
though I tried to see
what they did to me
with objectivity
perspective
I can’t believe their hostility
oh, the world I left behind

MOURNERS
Sor Juana’s dead
under the turf
no more literary births
she’s succumbed to gravitational pull
of the Earth

Sor Juana’s dead
Sor Juana’s gone
Sor Juana’s dead and gone
Into the night
dissipate
flickering light
she is gone

Into the night
dissipate
flickering light
she is gone

Into the night
dissipate
flickering light
she is gone

tantus labor non sit cassus... (so much labor let it not be lost...)

© Copyright 2009 Jim Bruno. All Rights Reserved.