‘Florante at Laura’ in the key of Mr. C
Several battles unfold in Florante at Laura, set to sweeping and powerful music composed by National Artist Ryan Cayabyab. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
By Leah C. Salterio
At 70, National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab is specific about the projects he still wants to take on.
“I am collecting Filipino works that I want to do,” Cayabyab admitted. “Matanda na ako (I’m old). I want to do heritage works that are important to me.”
National Artist Ryan Cayabyab relates his creative journey in making the music and orchestration for Ballet Manila’s Florante at Laura at a media conference. With him are BM artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde and co-choreographer Gerardo Francisco Jr. Photo by Erickson Dela Cruz
So when he was asked by Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde late last year if he could create the music for the company’s adaptation of the literary classic Florante at Laura, the composer known to many as “Mr. C” readily agreed.
“I was floored when he said yes,” Macuja Elizalde recalled at the recent media conference for the ballet production. “Okay, let’s do this! We’re on. I wasn’t expecting him to say yes. I knew he was very, very busy.”
Ballet Manila is making history by being the first company to create a full-length dance adaptation of the Balagtas masterpiece which had already been presented in film, theater, television, and even puppetry. With a National Artist signing on to put together the music and orchestration, the production gained even more significance.
Last February, Cayabyab sat down with the key creative team of Florante at Laura to thresh out details. Apart from Macuja Elizalde, the group was composed of choreographers Gerardo Francisco Jr. and Martin Lawrance and libretto consultant Michael Coroza who shared his synopsis of the story.
“I asked Lisa what style does she want,” he said. “Does she want modern music meaning 20th century, romantic, classical type? Does she want Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky? We understood each other, although I have never written anything along that line. I was just so happy because Lisa and I share the same wavelength.”
In April, the composer said he “hibernated” to finish Act 1. The following month, he had to fulfill other commitments. He resumed work on Florante at Laura in June. “I went in hibernation again. Walang nakakasingit to doing that work. I finished Act 1 in about ten to 12 days. Acts 2 and 3, about nine days. But that was cumulative. That didn’t happen in ten days straight. I sat down for six to seven hours just writing, writing and writing before I called it a day. Then maybe, if I’m so ganado (inspired) when I woke up the next day, I will work again. In July, that’s when I started to orchestrate.”
Ballet Manila principal dancers Joshua Enciso and Abigail Oliveiro, as Florante and Laura, in a romantic pas de deux. Photo by Giselle P. Kasilag
Cayabyab found it really easy to create the music for Florante at Laura. “The script, the libretto and the story were already there. If the story says love scene, that can easily have three minutes of music. If you read battle, that’s two minutes. The pas de deux of father and son fighting over one woman was great. For me, that was enough impetus to write music because I already have a guide. Everything was already in front of me. I just have to write the music.”
When Cayabyab submitted the music of Florante at Laura, he told choreographers Francisco and Lawrance: “Just tell me if the piece is fast, slow, needs to be extended or shortened. Just don’t ask me to change the music. Surprisingly, they didn’t change anything. Wow! Grabe! Geri said they will rely on what I’m giving them. That is what we will work on. Usually, it’s like a ping-pong. We would always repeatedly return to make the music better.”
The music of Florante at Laura turned out to be two hours in total, to be interpreted by the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) under the baton of Toma Cayabyab, the National Artist’s son. The elder Cayabyab welcomed the task of making the orchestration for the full-length ballet. “Florante at Laura is a heavy work for me and I find that very challenging. As long as I have an orchestra to work with, because that has been my dream – to write a big work for an orchestra.”
“When I asked the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth if they want to play for my new work, a ballet. Wala ring kaabog-abog (There was no hesitation), they said yes. Now you will hear a fully orchestrated ballet and I’m so excited to watch. These are gems,” Cayabyab enthused.
The Orchestra of the Filipino Youth performs the music for the full-length Florante at Laura ballet’s world premiere run at Aliw Theater on October 12, 13 and 19.
Florante at Laura is actually not the composer’s first project for Ballet Manila. He earlier did the music for Ang Mahiwagang Biyulin, one of the stories featured in another production derived from a Filipino literary classic, Severino Reyes’ Tatlong Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, with the particular piece choreographed by the late Tony Fabella.
Cayabyab’s work has been shaped by a variety of musical influences over the decades. “You must understand that I went to school, went to college to finish my bachelor’s degree,” he said. “I taught for 20 years. Everything that I studied and I heard I stopped teaching when I turned around 50.
“I said that is the only way I can clear all those deep-seated influences (that) I couldn’t remove. When I’m writing the music, I didn’t notice it. But once I heard the music again, I cannot escape from all kinds of music.
“All these years of studying Medieval, Greek, classical, romantic, 20th century, avantgarde, impressionistic, expressionistic music, there is still pop. Lahat naghalo-halo na (Everything gets mixed in). Susmaryosep! You can just imagine where all the influences came from.
“Ang daming paghuhugutan (There are so many inspirations to draw from). I don’t mind accepting the fact that I’m really the product of my time, my era. Whatever the year was, it was me. Whatever the product, that came out from me.
“I have pegs. You cannot exactly copy. The only thing you can copy is the feeling. That’s our job as composers. You try to find new sound or new expression for the same feeling of love, romance, epic-ness, battles.”
Ballet Manila artistic director Lisa Macuja Elizalde (sixth from left) says it is a dream come true for National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab (to her right) to be part of the Florante at Laura creative team. Also on the team are (from left): set designer Mio Infante, Orchestra of the Filipino Youth executive director Mickey Muñoz, conductor Toma Cayabyab, libretto consultant Michael Coroza, co-choreographers Gerardo Francisco Jr. and Martin Lawrance, and costume designers Therese Hernandez and Otto Hernandez of Make It Happen Workshop.
Cayabyab mentioned the soundtrack of such memorable and epic films as Star Wars, Spartacus, Ben-Hur, Ten Commandments and The Robe which previously inspired him.
“Have you heard the soundtrack of Dune?” he asked. “Ang ganda-ganda (It’s so beautiful). It’s more atmospheric. You are trying to put everything you know. But I’m old now. I am very selective.”
For Florante at Laura, his research included listening to old Persian music, and, upon Prof. Michael Coroza’s suggestion, watching a 1949 Florante at Laura film starring Leopoldo Salcedo on YouTube.
The resulting music and orchestration for Ballet Manila’s Florante at Laura meets the characteristics that Macuja Elizalde had hoped for during that first meeting with Mr. C – sweeping, dramatic, powerful and romantic.
“Everything was a surprise and wonder for me,” said Cayabyab. “I challenged myself into accepting this landmark ballet production and I hope that it becomes an important legacy for all of us involved in it.”
