Latin America

1
Latin America

• MUSC315

2
Music in Latin America

• Music in Latin America during the 19th century
  was dominated by European traditions (primarily
  Italian)
  
• The rise of Nationalism in the last two decades
  of the 19th century promoted the development of a
  more indigenous musical style.
  
• Latin American composers were ardently committed
  to achieve a reconciliation of the modern
  European currents with the melodic and rhythmic
  elements characteristic of their vernacular
  music.

3
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

• The Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos was one of the
  first Latin American composers to gain
  international recognition.
  
• Largely self-taught as a musician, he was able to
  achieve a unique and peculiarly Brazilian musical
  style
  
• Not very fond of academic training, he acquired
  most of his musical education as a popular
  musician.
  
• Combining his early musical experiences with a
  growing awareness of European musical
  developments (France and Italy), he fashioned a
  rough and vigorous style by blending popular
  elements with modern techniques such as the use
  of constant ostinato-like structures and elements
  (characteristic of Stravinsky)
• Prolific composer Villa-Lobos output exceed two
  thousand works. He had a gift for writing music
  with extreme facility, almost like improvising
  

4

• Listening Bachianas Brasileiras (1930-45)
• Series of nine compositions, each scored for a
  different ensemble
  
• He attempted to reconcile Brazilian popular music
  with stylistic features of J.S. Bach.
  
• Instead of a neo-classical recreation of Bachs
  music in modern musical terms (Stravinsky-Pulcinel
  la), he writes Brazilian music in the style of
  Bach.
• Bachiana No. 5 for Soprano and an orchestra made
  up of cellos. Shows the composers gift for
  melodic lyricism.

5
Carlos Chavez (1899-1978)

• The Mexican composer Carlos Chavez embraced more
  explicitly the European modern currents into his
  musical style.
  
• Obtained prominence as a musician in the 1920s, a
  period marked by the postrevolutionary national
  sentiments.
  
• Chavez and other artists of his time (Diego
  Rivera and Jose Orozco) were inspired by Indian
  culture of the pre-Colonial period
  
• His use of national elements is less conscious
  and consistent than in Villa-Loboss case.
  
• Listening Sinfonia India (1936)
• Ancient Indean melodies
• Native percussion instruments
• Modern musical style with an undeniable
  Latina-American flavor.

6
Alberto Ginastera (1916-83)

• Argentinean composer of the next generation
• He made his early reputation as a composer of
  strong nationalist roots
  
• In his early style, he evokes Argentine folk
  music rather explicitly in the use of folk
  melodies and popular rhythms and dances
  
• Later in life, he turns gradually toward a more
  abstract nationalism in which the ethnic
  attributes are sublimated.
  
• He experimented with Twelve-tone technique in a
  free and personal way in some of his last
  compositions
  
• Listening La Estancia (1941)
• Danza finale rhythmic drive. Inspired in gaucho
  dances.