Composer: Jan Bartlema
Model: DZ 4662
Instrumentation: Solo guitar
Level: Advanced
12 pages
Publisher: d'Oz Publications
This work was commissioned by his deconaire, Professor Geert Jan Stams (specialist in forensic intervention with children and young people), who chose to use Francisco Goya's famous engraving as "leitmotiv" for his farewell speech at the University of Amsterdam, in May 2026.
I tried to translate into music all the aspects that Professor Stams considered essential in this engraving, aspects that are reflected in the reflections he exposes below.
Goya's work, "The Sleep of Reason begets monsters," suggests that when reason falls asleep, the imagination detaches itself from it, giving free rein to superstition, irrationality and fear, while potentially contributing to social injustice. She suggests that imagination and reason are only fruitful when they work together. The handwritten annotation accompanying the ordeal preserved at the Prado Museum specifies that the imagination, "united with reason", is "the mother of the arts and the source of their wonders". Applied in our time, Goya's vision highlights a fruitful relationship between science and art: knowledge gives direction to the imagination, while it allows knowledge to consider what does not yet exist. Although science and art are today often considered distinct fields, their historical interconnection suggests that the alliance of knowledge and imagination could be essential to creativity, discovery, and a more complete understanding of the world.
