Always in My Heart - Ernesto Lecuona Casado-Kim Gannon

[Mariner67]

Looking for an arrangemrnt

[Keith88]

Siempre En Mi Corazón (Always In My Heart) was composed by Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1963) in 1942 and featured in the film "Always In My Heart." It was nominated for an Academy Award for best song in 1943 but lost to "White Christmas." This lovely song is performed either as a rhumba or a ballad. Notable vocal performances which can be found on Youtube are by Plácido Domingo (my favorite) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1VLs_C64tg , Dean Martin (both as rhumbas) and Jerry Vale and Kitty Kallen (both as ballads). Also, catch the piano solo performance by the composer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gZRoW97bBs.

Aside from its great beauty, the song is of real musical interest. It has a 32-bar ABAC structure, but unlike most ABAC songs, the two A sections only repeat the first four measures. The thematic structure is very tight (think Beethoven's Fifth), based on a rhythmic motive of six eighth notes followed by a long note. Each of the four sections begins with three instances of this motive; the C section uses it four times! Interest is generated by the use of different harmonies beneath these motives in the B and C sections. It is hard to find another popular tune with as much thematic repetition, let alone one that works as well.

Lecuona, a famous composer in his native Cuba, wrote many compositions. His songs include "Siboney," "Malagueña," and "The Breeze and I."

The chord chart for this song more or less follows the lead sheet in the "Latin Fake Book" published by Hal Leonard. It works well with the Latin - Cuba: Bolero style at 95 bpm.

Siempre En Mi Corazon - Ernesto Lecuona

Also note: this chart would benefit from being able to use tacets rather than NCs ("no chord" markings). I'm glad that such a feature is being considered in Niki's poll of possible new features for iReal Pro.

[pdxdjazz]

Thank you.
)BOB
http://www.irealb.com/forums/showthr...1-Can-YOU-Help

[Mariner67]

Keith- thank you for the detailed response. I now have a full understanding as to why I love this song.

[Keith88]

You're welcome. Although I became familiar with this song many years ago, I really didn't learn it until now. I find it so attractive that I plan to include it in my playlists for upcoming gigs. So thank you for having re-introduced it to me.

[Keith88]

Some years ago, I submitted a chord chart for this song and thought that if iReal Pro ever added a tacet feature, I would update the arrangement to incude it. A "Break" feature was eventually added, so I am submitting an updated version that some may like better than the original. Here it is:

Siempre En Mi Corazon 1 - Ernesto Lecuona

It should be noted that the song is incorrectly identified on this thread. The proper title is "Always in My Heart" which is the correct translation of the original Spanish "Siempre En Mi Corazon."

[pdxdjazz]

It should be noted that the song is incorrectly identified on this thread. The proper title is "Always in My Heart" which is the correct translation of the original Spanish "Siempre En Mi Corazon."

Fixed.
Thank you <break> Keith
)BOB