Mexico City

June 19–20, 1938

No dedication

2’

Picc, ob, 2cl[B♭], bn / 2tpt, tbn, tba / xyl /vn I, vn II, cb

The original autograph or Photostats are not found in the archive. There is a photostat of a good copy done by a copyist. The original of a draft copy of the work was also found, dedicated by Revueltas, but apparently drawn up by another person. In rehearsal no. 11 in this manuscript, the writing resembles a sketch.
In addition to these materials, an incomplete set of instrumental parts prepared by a copyist and the manuscript of a reduction for piano done by an unknown hand have also been found.

Judging by the annotations that appear on the first page of the score (“Reel r. M–403”) and the pagination (pages 36–49), this work was written for film, or inversely, used in a movie following its composition, though no specific film has been identified. It apparently appears in the manuscript “Scenes from Childhood” as an optional title for “Grotesque” (the name is written in parentheses, followed by a question mark, also in parentheses). In filmic repertoire, it is unusual to include signature, place of composition, and date of completion of the score at the end of a musical sequence, reinforcing the idea that this score is a concert work, though there is no information as to its possible premiere. The score incorporates elements of the children’s song “The Five Hours,” from the Five Songs for Children and Two Profane Songs cycle composed two months earlier, in April 1938.

Unpublished