Children of the Sun (Los Hijos del Sol) is a symphonic suite in four movements. It was inspired by the story of the conquest of the Incan Empire by the Spanish, and portrays some of the epic events of that fateful time (1532-3).

The work’s movements are descriptively entitled: El Templo del Sol (The Temple of the Sun), Los Conquistadores (The Conquerors), Nocturno de Cajamarca (Night Music of Cajamarca) and La Caída del Templo del Sol (The Fall of the Temple of the Sun).

The thematic material includes a tonal lamentoso theme stated at the outset on ‘pointillistic’ woodwind. It recurs in various disguises throughout the suite, so helping to unify it. Much use is made of a 12-note motif on oboe that follows the lamentoso theme. Fragments of folk music from the Peruvian altiplano are woven into the first and third movements.

Movement 1 depicts the rarefied heights and deep valleys of the Andes, as well as the Incan capital, Cuzco, where the Temple of the Sun stood. The fall of the Incan Empire is anticipated in this opening movement, which is dominated by the lamentoso theme.

Movement 2 is a portrait of the Spanish conquerors led by Francisco Pizarro. Darker orchestral instruments dominate this short scherzo, in which the melody of Albeniz’s well-known Sevilla -the port from whence the conquistadors sailed- is heard on trumpet.

Movement 3 is an orchestral nocturne portraying the atmosphere in Cajamarca on the night before the Spanish destroyed the Incan civilization, the violent events of the following day being symbolized by loud unisons on brass and percussion. At the end of the movement the sky briefly clears and the Temple of the Moon in Cuzco is seen. 

Movement 4 is a lament for the destroyed world of the Incas, for the ransomed and garrotted Lord Inca, Atahualpa. The lamentoso theme of the first movement is recalled as Sevilla moves triumphantly across the Andes - the wails of lament evaporating into time.

Composed 1989