Quinteto Contrapunto
Encyclopedia
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n quintet
Quintet
A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
which reached nation-wide and international celebrity in the early 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, and was very active for about a decade.
Contrapunto began when its founder, singer Rafael Suárez, was studying in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and made a series of arrangements for two voices of Venezuelan folk pieces. When he returned to Venezuela, he showed his work to Domingo Mendoza, who at the time was a singer in the Choir of the Central University of Venezuela
Central University of Venezuela
The Central University of Venezuela is a premier public University of Venezuela located in Caracas...
.
Mendoza was charmed by the arrangements, but suggested that instead of two voices, they should include the complete range of five voices: mezzosoprano, baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
, bass, soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. Following this idea, in 1962, the Quinteto Contrapunto was born, with baritone Rafael Suárez as arranger and director, tenor Jesús Sevillano, mezzosopranos Morella Muñoz
Morella Muñoz
Morella Muñoz , was a celebrated Venezuelan mezzosoprano.- Early life and career :She received primary education at the Venezuela Ricardo Zuloaga Experimental school, and the San José de Tarbes school...
and Aida Navarro
Aida Navarro
Aida Navarro is a mezzo soprano born in Caracas on October 17, 1937She studied lyric singing in Venezuela, The U.S. and in Vienna, Austria. She excelled in many opera and chamber music presentations in Europe and Latin America. In 1967 she was awarded the Prize to the Best Chamber Music Performer...
, and Domingo Mendoza, Bass voice, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
executant.
In the span of a few months, the group became hugely successful. By 1962 they had sold 50,000 copies of their first album “Quinteto Contrapunto Vol. 1”. Their style, unique at the time, fused popular music with the methodology and treatment of academic music. Also, it was uncommon in Venezuela to have "formal" concerts of folk music at the time. However, this was no obstacle for the group, and soon they were widely known in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
After the death of Rafael Suárez in 1971, the Quinteto Contrapunto disbanded and did not reappear until 1998, when Jesús Sevillano promoted a reunion (Mezzo Morella Muñoz had also died in 1995). The new quintet was comprised by Jesús Sevillano (tenor), Otilia Rodriguez (mezzosoprano), Efraín Arteaga (Bass and arranger), Marina Auristela Guanche (soprano) and Parmenio Talavera (baritone, guitar and cuatro performer). The reappearance was supported with the launch of a double album, Quinteto Contrapunto. Música Popular y Folklórica de Venezuela. This release contained most of the songs recorded by the original group. In 2003, they released Lo Máximo, 22 Éxitos - Quinteto Contrapunto, a new compilation of the best songs of the group.