Carlos Guastavino
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Carlos Guastavino was born in Santa Fe Province
Santa Fe Province
The Invincible Province of Santa Fe, in Spanish Provincia Invencible de Santa Fe , is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco , Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santiago del Estero...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He studied music in Santa Fe with Esperanza Lothringer and Dominga Iaffei, and in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with Athos Palma. A talented pianist, he performed his piano works in London in 1947, 1948, and 1949, invited by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and as a recipient of a scholarship from the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
. During these years, the BBC Symphony Orchestra premiered the orchestral version of his Tres Romances Argentinos, under the baton of Walter Goehr. Later, in 1956, Guastavino toured the USSR and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, performing his pieces for voice and piano.
One of the foremost Argentine composers of the 20th century, his production amounted to over 500 works, most of them songs for piano and voice, many still unpublished. His style was quite conservative, always tonal and lusciously romantic. His compositions were clearly influenced by Argentine folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. His reputation was based almost entirely on his songs, and Guastavino has sometimes been called "the Schubert of the Pampas." Some of his songs, for example Pueblito, mi pueblo, La rosa y el sauce ("The Rose and the Willow") and Se equivocó la paloma ("The Dove Was Wrong"), became national favorites. Unlike most other composers, at any time or place, Guastavino earned enough from his royalties and performing rights that he really had little need for other income.
Guastavino's musical style marked a stark contrast with the works of his 20th-century Argentine contemporaries such as Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
and reveals the influence of European composers such as Albéniz, Granados
Granados
Places called Granados:*Granados, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala*Granados, Sonora, MexicoPeople named Granados:* Enrique Granados , Spanish composer* Federico Tinoco Granados , president of Costa Rica...
, Rachmaninoff, Chabrier, Falla
Falla
Falla is a locality situated in Finspång Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 463 inhabitants in 2005....
, Debussy, and Ravel, but also is clearly inherited from the luminaries of 19th-century Argentine nationalist composers, such as Alberto Williams
Alberto Williams
Alberto Williams was an Argentine symphonic composer and conductor.-Life and work:Alberto Williams was born to in Buenos Aires, in 1862. A maternal grandfather, Amancio Jacinto Alcorta, had been a respected government and banking policy-maker, as well as a well-known composer of sacred music...
, Ernesto Drangosch, Francisco Hargreaves, Eduardo García Mansilla and Julián Aguirre. Aguirre’s delicate and intimate piano writing is an especially evident influence on Guastavino. Guastavino's stylistic isolation from the modernist and avant-garde movements going on around him, and the self-consciously nationalist content of his songs made him a model for Argentine popular and folk musicians in the 1960s.
Guastavino published more than a hundred and fifty songs for voice and piano, numerous piano solo pieces, choral works, school songs, and chamber music. The poets whose works he set to music included Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti
Rafael Alberti Merello was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27....
, Leon Benaros, Hamlet Lima Quintana, Atahualpa Yupanqui
Atahualpa Yupanqui
Atahualpa Yupanqui was an Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and writer. He is considered the most important Argentine folk musician of the 20th century....
, Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, and Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, among others. A small number of his songs are settings of his own texts. His works for orchestra included Divertissement; fue una vez, commissioned by Colonel de Basil for his original Ballet Russe and premiered at the Teatro Colón, in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in 1942; and Suite Argentina which was performed in London, Paris, Barcelona, and Havana by the Ballet Español of Isabel Lopez. He also wrote three Sonatas for guitar.
Guastavino received important awards and recognition, such as the Municipal Prize from the city of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
for his chamber songs, a prize from the Justice Ministry of Argentina, Prize of the Cultural Commission of Santa Fe Province for his songs, “Vosotras” magazine Prize for his “Canción de Navidad”, and a Prize from the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Music Council as recognition of his outstanding creative activity.
Many famous performers, such as Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza
Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...
, Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
, José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
, Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
, Patricia Caicedo, Bernarda Fink
Bernarda Fink
Bernarda Fink Inzko is an Argentinian mezzo-soprano. Born in Buenos Aires to Slovene parents, Bernarda Fink studied at the "Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón" in Buenos Aires. She won First Prize at the Nuevas Voces Líricas competition in 1985 and moved to Europe...
, María Isabel Siewers
María Isabel Siewers
María Isabel Siewers is an Argentine classical guitarist.A pupil of María Luisa Anido, her international performance career began after winning the 2nd Prize at the Concours International de Guitarre de Paris in 1974....
Jorge Chaminé
Jorge Chaminé
Jorge Chaminé is a Portuguese operatic baritone.Of Spanish and Portuguese parentage, he began his musical studies at an early age...
, Agathe Martel, and Karina Gauvin
Karina Gauvin
Karina Gauvin is an internationally-recognized Canadian soprano who has made several recordings and is especially recognised for her interpretation of Baroque music. Opera News stated that, "Gauvin knows how to rivet an audience in opera and concert. She has been a queen of Baroque opera for years...
, have included works of Guastavino on their programs.
Selected discography
- Carlos Guastavino: The Complete Piano Music, Martin Jones, piano. Nimbus, NI 5818/20 (2008).
- Flores Argentinas, Desiree Halac, mezzo-soprano; Dalton BaldwinDalton BaldwinDalton Baldwin is an American collaborative pianist. He has made over 100 recordings and has won numerous prizes working with Elly Ameling and Gérard Souzay.-External links:*...
, piano. Albany Records (2008).
- Art Songs of Latin-America. Patricia Caicedo, soprano & Pau Casan, piano. Albert Moraleda Records, Barcelona (2001).
- A mi ciudad nativa (To my native city), Art Songs of Latin-America, Vol. II, Patricia Caicedo, soprano; Eugenia Gassull, piano. Mundo Arts Records, Barcelona (2006).
- Flores Argentinas: Canciones de Ginastera y Guastavino, Inca Rose Duo: Annelise Skovmand, voice; Pablo González Jazey, guitar. Cleo Productions, Cleo Prod, 1002 (2007).
- Canciones Argentinas, Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano; Marcos FinkMarcos FinkMarcos Fink also Marko Fink, Slovenian singer of classical music , , Buenos Aires, Argentina.Marcos was born in Slovenian family in Argentina, but otherwise mostly lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia....
, bass-baritone; Carmen Piazzini, piano. Harmonia Mundi, HMC 901892 (2006).
- Vai Azulão, Agathe Martel, soprano; Marc Bourdeau, piano. Marquis Classic, MAR 285 (2002).
- Canciones Amatorias, Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano; Roger VignolesRoger VignolesRoger Vignoles is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world’s leading singers – including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjøberg, Sarah Walker, Susan Graham, Felicity Lott, Stephan Genz, Monica Groop, Wolfgang Holzmair,...
, piano. Hyperion, CDA 67186 (2002).
- Flores Argentinas, Marcos Fink, bass-baritone; Luis Ascot, piano. Cascavelle, VEL1059 (1996).
- Mélodies, Jorge Chaminé, baritone; Marie-Françoise BucquetMarie-Françoise BucquetMarie-Françoise Bucquet is a French pianist.French pianist Marie-Françoise Bucquet began her studies at the Vienna Music Academy and continued this tradition by further studies with the pianist Wilhelm Kempff and later with Alfred Brendel...
, piano. Lyrinx, 149 (882 149) (1995).
- Argentinian Songs, Raúl GiménezRaúl GiménezRaúl Giménez , is an operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian bel canto repertory, in which he is considered one of the best exponent in recent years.Giménez was born in the small town of Carlos Pellegrini, Argentina...
, tenor; Nina Walker, piano. Nimbus Records, NI 5107 (1987).
- Classics of the Americas, vol. 2, Margot Pares-Reyna, soprano; Georges Rabol, piano. Opus 111, OPS 30-9002 (1990).
- South American Songs, Teresa Berganza, mezzo-soprano; Juan-Antonio Alvarez-Parejo, piano. Claves, CD 50-8401 (1984).
- Canciones populares argentinas Juan Carlos Taborda, tenor; Carlos Guastavino, piano - ANTAR, 1964
- Guitar Music of Argentina, vol. 1, Victor Villandagos, guitar. Naxos Classical, 8-555058 (2002).
- Guitar Music of Argentina, vol. 2, Victor Villandagos, guitar. Naxos Classical, 8-557658 (2002).
- Carlos Guastavino: Piano Music, Hector Moreno, piano; Norberto Capelli, piano. Marco Polo, 8-223462 (1992).
- Carlos Guastavino: Las Puertas de la Mañana, Ulises Espaillat, tenor; Pablo ZingerPablo ZingerPablo Zinger is a conductor, pianist, writer, composer, arranger, lecturer and narrator, specializing in the music of Ástor Piazzolla, tango, Spanish zarzuela, and Latin American vocal and instrumental music.-Biography:...
, piano. New Albion, NA058 (1993).
- Carlos Guastavino: Guitar and Chamber Music, María Isabel SiewersMaría Isabel SiewersMaría Isabel Siewers is an Argentine classical guitarist.A pupil of María Luisa Anido, her international performance career began after winning the 2nd Prize at the Concours International de Guitarre de Paris in 1974....
, guitar; Stamitz Quartet. London, ASV 933 (1991).
- Fantasia Sul America: Clarinet Masterworks from South America, Luis RossiLuis RossiLuis Rossi is an internationally renowned clarinetist. He performed as Principal clarinetist in symphony orchestras throughout South America for twenty years before he founded a clarinet workshop in Santiago, Chile, in 1986...
, clarinet; Diana Schneider. Giorgina Records. NR 1104 (199?).
- Carlos Guastavino: Obras para guitarra y música de cámara María Isabel Siewers,guitar; Stamic Quartet, Acqua Records 275