Aaron Copland, dubbed the “dean of American composers,” composed much music inspired by the landscape and people of the American West. “Hoe-Down” is the well-known final scene from his ballet Rodeo in which the Cowgirl and the Roper finally kiss in this love story of the Southwest. Arturo Márquez, one of Mexico’s eminent contemporary composers, captures the flavor of the comparsas that parade through the streets in joyful, sometimes riotous, celebrations during Carnivàle just before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.
