Sinfonia India, Carlos Chavez

Chavez: The Academic

Biography

• Believed the written word was effective for articulating his feelings and ideas
• Substantial collection of published works
• Biggest publication: Toward a New Music (1937)
• predicted practical uses of the new developing technology in music
• vision of a future for electronics within the scope of serious music
• this is the first time a piece of writing had discussed the possibilities of electronic music

Bibliography

Nationalism in Sinfonia India

• Born June 13, 1899 just outside Mexico City
• Began musical studies on the piano at age nine
• Composed his first symphony at age 16
• 1928: Becomes the conductor of the Symphony of Mexico
• 1928-34: Works as the director of the National Conservatory in Mexico

• A Salute to Mexico’s Independence. (2010, September 07). Retrieved from http://houstonsymphony.wordpress.com/tag/sinfonia-india/
• Behague, Gerard. "Indianism in Latin American Art-Music Composition of the 1920s to 1940s: Case Studies from Mexico, Peru and Brazil." Latin American Music Review. no. 1 (2006): 28-37.
• Carlos chávez- sinfonia india. part 1 [Theater]. (2008). Available from
• Goldman, Richard Franko. "Chavez: Sinfonia India; Sinfonia de Antigona; Sinfonia Romantica by Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York; Carlos Chavez." The Musical Quarterly. no. 3 (1960): 396-397.
• Parker, R. (1991). A Recurring Melodic Cell in the Music of Carlos Chávez. Latin American Music Review , 12(2), 160-172. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/780087
• Pufleau, Luis Velasco. "Nationalism, Authoritarianism and Cultural Construction: Carlos Chávez and Mexican Music (1921–1952)." Music and Politics. no. 2 (2012).
• Sinfonía India | Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México [Web]. (2011). Retrieved from
• Weinstock, H. (1959). About Carlos Chavez: Some Notes and Thoughts on an Unfinished Career. Tempo, New Series, (51), 13-15. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/942816
• Weinstock, Herbert. "Carlos Chavez." The Musical Quarterly. no. 4 (1936): 435-445.
• Dudamel, Gustavo. "Carlos Chávez (1899–1978) Sinfonía India (Symphony No. 2)." Program notes. Sinfonia India. Zellerbach Hall., California. 29 November, 2012. Online.

Thank You!

Images of Mexico:

• spaciousness of volcanic islands
• acts like a tour from city to city
• humor, gentleness and pride of Mexican people
• Indian influences through the indigenous tribes in Mexico mixed with European influences - mestizo

“Techniques associated with twentieth-century composition overshadow references to either pre-Columbian musical culture or contemporary Mexican Indian music.” - Gerard Behague

Orchestration

• Written for full orchestra
• Includes native Mexican and Indian percussion instruments
• grijutian (deer hooves)
• tenabari (butterfly cocoons)
• cascabeles (clay rattles)
• These were substituted for the closest equivalent used in traditional orchestra

www.tubechop.com/watch/1678979

“the best kind of sophisticated primitivism we have in contemporary music” - Richard Franko Goldman

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1684398

Repetitious nature at the time was considered the epitome of the Indianist style

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1684398

Musical Style

• Pre-1921: semi-classical style with only slight Mexican elements
• includes arrangements of revolutionary and traditional Mexican songs
• Works for orchestra, piano, ensemble, and voice
• 1921-28: second style which is more an expression of Mexico
• Ballets, chamber pieces, songs and piano works
• 1924: Visited New York and was impressed by its music scene
• 1935: Composed Sinfonia India
• Repertory includes many genres ranging from ballets, orchestral works, piano works, solo voice, choir, string quartet and opera

Work of Focus: Sinfonia India (1935)

• Written in Chavez' third compositional period
• Premiered by radio broadcast on January 23, 1936 in New York, with Chavez conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Later premiered in Mexico - July, 1936
• This work marks the beginning of Chavez' personal relationship to musical life of the United States

• Composed while Chavez was in America
• Second of Chavez' six symphonies
• Kindred spirit of Bartok: composed mix of Indigenous and

Western art music

• Hybrid between European form and "New World Imagination"
• What we know today as 20th Century style

Second Theme

Composition of Sinfonia India

First Theme

Borrowed from Yacqui people

(Sonora Region

Borrowed from Huichole people

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1678961

• One-movement symphonic work
• Follows classical three-part sonata form
• Two main themes:
• 1st: strongly rhythmic, borrowed from the Huichole people
• 2nd: lyrical, borrowed from Yacqui people of the Sonora region
• Secondary themes

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1678957

Sinfonia India, Carlos Chavez