El cantarico

Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco was a significant composer of sacred music in colonial South America. This villancico, El cantarico, is a secular-influenced sacred song, common in Spanish and Ibero-American traditions for celebrations like Christmas. Scored for three sopranos (SSST), the piece explores themes of love and loss, personified by a small jug (cantarico) going to the fountain. The refrain expresses a plea for the jug not to break, as its loss would mean returning home with sadness, the jug without water and the singer without the metaphorical water of love. The verses expand on this, questioning the point of seeking water when one's eyes already weep, or comparing the lover's plight to a storm of elements, all lamenting the precariousness of hope and love.