Xavier Montsalvatge
Encyclopedia
Xavier Montsalvatge i Bassols (ʃəβiˈe munsəɫˈβadʒə) (March 11, 1912, Girona
– May 7, 2002, Barcelona
) was a Spanish
Catalan
composer
and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music
during the latter half of the 20th century.
and composition
at the Barcelona Conservatory. His principal teachers were Lluís Maria Millet, Enric Morera, Jaume Pahissa, and Eduard Toldrà
. After the Spanish Civil War
, Montsalvatge began work as a music critic when he joined the newspaper Destino in 1942, a publication he would eventually direct in 1968 and 1975. He wrote additionally for the daily La Vanguardia
after 1962. Montsalvatge also returned to teach at his alma mater, becoming a lecturer in 1970, and then a professor of composition in 1978.
He was awarded Spain's Premio Nacional de Música
for composition in 1985.
and by Wagnerism
, which together dominated the Catalan music
scene during the period represented by his Sinfonía mediterránea of 1949. In the following period, he found inspiration in the music of the Antilles
(Cinco canciones negras, 1945; Cuarteto indiano, 1952). His steady contact with the French
composers Olivier Messiaen
and Georges Auric
led to a crucial change in his style, which soon became characterized by free polytonality
(Partida, 1958). The final phase of Montsalvatge's work revealed the influence of the avant-garde
.
Montsalvatge explored virtually all musical form
s in his composition. His work ranges in scale from opera
s (El gato con botas, Una voz en off) to chamber music
(Cuarteto indiano), in between which lie his orchestra
l works, such as the Desintegración morfológica de la Chacona de Bach, the Laberinto o Sinfonía de réquiem, and the prizewinning Sinfonía mediterránea. He owed his international fame chiefly to one charming and outstanding work: the Cinco canciones negras for mezzo-soprano
and orchestra, a blend of Antillean
rhythm
s and themes
; among them, the best known is the Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito (Lullaby to sleep a black child). He wrote film music
and in 1987, his score for the picture Dragon Rapide, about Francisco Franco
, was nominated as the best original music at the Goya Awards.
Operas
Ballet
Music for cobla ensemble
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
– May 7, 2002, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
) was a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
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...
and music critic. He was one of the most influential music figures in Catalan music
Music of Catalonia
The music of Catalonia comprises one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe, and has displayed a rich musical culture continuously for at least two thousand years.-History:...
during the latter half of the 20th century.
Life
Montsalvatge studied violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
at the Barcelona Conservatory. His principal teachers were Lluís Maria Millet, Enric Morera, Jaume Pahissa, and Eduard Toldrà
Eduard Toldrà
Eduard Toldrà Soler was a Spanish Catalan conductor and composer.Toldrà played an important role in the Culture of Barcelona. In 1944 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where his deputy in 1957 was his friend Ricardo Lamote de Grignon...
. After the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, Montsalvatge began work as a music critic when he joined the newspaper Destino in 1942, a publication he would eventually direct in 1968 and 1975. He wrote additionally for the daily La Vanguardia
La Vanguardia
La Vanguardia is Catalonia's leading daily newspaper as well as the fourth best-selling in Spain. It has its headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia's largest city....
after 1962. Montsalvatge also returned to teach at his alma mater, becoming a lecturer in 1970, and then a professor of composition in 1978.
He was awarded Spain's Premio Nacional de Música
Premio Nacional de Música
The Premio Nacional de Música forms part of the annual National Awards in Spain....
for composition in 1985.
Work
Montsalvatge's style evolved over several different phases. At the start of his career, he was strongly influenced by the twelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone technique
Twelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
and by Wagnerism
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, which together dominated the Catalan music
Music of Catalonia
The music of Catalonia comprises one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe, and has displayed a rich musical culture continuously for at least two thousand years.-History:...
scene during the period represented by his Sinfonía mediterránea of 1949. In the following period, he found inspiration in the music of the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
(Cinco canciones negras, 1945; Cuarteto indiano, 1952). His steady contact with the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composers Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
and Georges Auric
Georges Auric
Georges Auric was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and under the composer Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum...
led to a crucial change in his style, which soon became characterized by free polytonality
Polytonality
The musical use of more than one key simultaneously is polytonality . Bitonality is the use of only two different keys at the same time...
(Partida, 1958). The final phase of Montsalvatge's work revealed the influence of the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
.
Montsalvatge explored virtually all musical form
Musical form
The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
s in his composition. His work ranges in scale from opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s (El gato con botas, Una voz en off) to chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
(Cuarteto indiano), in between which lie his orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l works, such as the Desintegración morfológica de la Chacona de Bach, the Laberinto o Sinfonía de réquiem, and the prizewinning Sinfonía mediterránea. He owed his international fame chiefly to one charming and outstanding work: the Cinco canciones negras for mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
and orchestra, a blend of Antillean
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
s and themes
Theme (music)
In music, a theme is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based.-Characteristics:A theme may be perceivable as a complete musical expression in itself, separate from the work in which it is found . In contrast to an idea or motif, a theme is...
; among them, the best known is the Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito (Lullaby to sleep a black child). He wrote film music
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
and in 1987, his score for the picture Dragon Rapide, about Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
, was nominated as the best original music at the Goya Awards.
Important works
- Cinco canciones negras (1945) (Five blackmen songs)
- Canciones Para Niños (1953) (Songs for Children)
- Sonatine pour Ivette (1962)
- Babel (1967)
- Homenaje a Manolo Hugué (1971)
- Serenata a Lydia de Cadaqués (1971)
- Reflexions-obertura (1975)
- Concert capriccio (1975) for harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
and orchestra - Fantasía (1985) for harp and guitar
Operas
- El gato con botas
- Una voce in off
- Babel 46 (opera, 2002 premiere)
Ballet
- Perlimplinada, music in collaboration with Federico MompouFederico MompouFrederic Mompou i Dencausse was a Catalan Spanish composer and pianist. He is best known for his solo piano music and his songs.-Life:...
Music for cobla ensemble
Cobla
The cobla is a traditional music ensemble of Catalonia, Spain and in Northern Catalonia in France. It is generally used to accompany the Sardana, a traditional Catalan folk dance, danced in a circle.-Structure:...
- Elegia a Juli Garreta (1946)
- Madrigal en forma de sardana (1945)