While working on a musical piece that would reflect Puerto Rican heritage, composer Christian Quiñones said he wanted to do something "entirely different" that wouldn't make him feel boxed in by ideas of genre. So it occurred to him to ask his mother to write something that could be the inspiration for his composition.
She wrote him a meditation on becoming a mother that captured a mix of overwhelming love and newfound fear.
"It was her experience as a mother for the first time," Quiñones said. "I think that was really amazing for her, just coming so vulnerable to this, especially talking about motherhood... a universal topic and something that everyone can relate to — but at the same time, through the lenses of a Puerto Rican mother and her experience, which is unique."
Here's what his mother wrote:
I wasn't expecting you. But when I had you, it was love at first sight.
I felt your heart beating. In my heart, a new woman was born, sensible, fearful of all the dangers, wary, and protective. Between us, there is a dedication and a disinterested love, a pure feeling. There is nothing in this world compared to my love to you. You transformed my world.
Quiñones said the music he created based on his mother's meditation has an "anxious texture" that evolves and then dissipates. In a way, he said, it's his reaction to what his mother wrote.
The resulting piece is titled "What My Mother Wrote," and it premiered in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 2019. You can watch a video of the performance by the Victory Players below.
The Victory Players
Tianhui Ng, Music Director
Nathan Ben-Yehuda, piano
Clare Monfredo, cello
Giovanni A. Perez, flute
Robert Rocheteau, percussion
Eric Schultz, clarinet
Elly Toyoda, violin
Quiñones studied music at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico. His music often explores cultural identity and incorporates electronic, rock, and Latin elements. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Watch an interview with Quiñones below, or read a transcript in English or Spanish.
Spanish language translation: Raquel Obregon
Spanish language editor: Elizabeth Román
Web production contributor: Heather Brandon
El Puerto Rico is a collaboration of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA), New England Public Media and GBH Music, which originally published a version of this post.