In the uncertain panorama of today's music, few indeed are the composers who appear able to set their course as though by an infallible compass. Among those few, Alberto Ginastera is an outstanding example. During thirty years of professional life, his compositions reveal a progression of unbroken continuity and logic. When, therefore, in 1962 at the age of 46, he was commissioned by the Municipality of Buenos Aires to compose his first opera, Don Rodrigo, he was fully prepared for this major task, and created a lyrical and dramatic work in which all the elements of his creative personality are merged.