Sensemayá

Sensemayá, tone poem by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas that premiered in Mexico City in December 1938. It is notable for its rhythmic complexity and for its incorporation of Latin American folk percussion instruments as part of the orchestra.

Inspired by the Cuban writer Nicolás Guillén’s poem “Sensemayá: canto para matar una culebra” (1934; “Sensemayá: Chant for Killing a Snake”), which depicts an Afro-Caribbean ritual representing the killing of a snake. Though it premiered in 1938, it did not gain international attention until 1945, when it was performed in the United States under the baton of Leopold Stokowski.

The score’s winding rhythms convey the snake’s motions, and its unusual, sometimes dissonant, harmonies evoke a sense of impending doom. Along with the standard orchestra instruments, Revueltas called for an array of orchestral and traditional percussion instruments, including the timpani, piano, xylophone, claves, maracas, bass drum, tom-toms, cymbals, gong, glockenspiel, celesta, gourd, and raspador.