Carlos Chávez

Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (June 13, 1899–August 2, 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, teacher, journalist, and the founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was born in Popotla, near Mexico City. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his "Symphony No. 2", which uses native Yaqui percussion instruments, is probably the most popular.

His paternal grandfather José María Chávez, governor of the state of Aguascalientes, was ordered executed by Emperor Maximilian in 1864. His father, Augustín Chávez, invented a plough that was produced and used in the United States. He died when Carlos was barely three years old. Carlos had his first piano lessons from his brother Manuel, and later on he was taught by Asunción Parra, Manuel Ponce and Pedro Luis Ozagón, for piano, and later Juan Fuentes for harmony. His family often went on vacations to Tlaxcala, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca and other places where the cultural influence of the Aztec and other indigenous peoples was still very strong.

In 1916, Chávez and friends started a cultural journal, "Gladios", and this led to Chávez joining the staff of the Mexico City newspaper "El Universal" in 1924.

After the Mexican Revolution and the installation of a democratically elected president, Álvaro Obregón, Chávez became one of the first exponents of Mexican nationalist music with ballets on Aztec themes.

In 1922, Chávez married Otilia Ortiz and they went on honeymoon to Europe, where he met Paul Dukas. After Europe, the couple vacationed in the United States, to which Chávez returned in 1926 and stayed in New York until 1928. Upon his return to Mexico, Chávez became director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Mexicana (later renamed Orquesta Sinfónica de Mexico), Mexico's first permanent orchestra, started by a musicians' labor union. Chávez was instrumental in taking the orchestra on tour through Mexico's rural areas.

In 1928, Chávez was appointed director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música - a position he held for six years. In that capacity, Chávez spearheaded projects to collect aboriginal folk music.

For part of the time that Arturo Toscanini was not conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1938, Chávez conducted a series of concerts with that orchestra. In 1940 he produced concerts at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

From 1947 to 1952, Chávez was director general of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. In 1947, he formed the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, which supplanted the older OSM as Mexico's premier orchestra and led to the disbanding of the older ensemble. Throughout all this time, Chávez maintained a busy international touring schedule. He died quietly while visiting his daughter outside of Mexico City.

Carlos Chávez's manuscripts and papers are housed in the [http://www.nypl.org/musicdiv Music Division] of [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts] and in the Archivo de la Nación in Mexico City.

One important book of Chávez himself is "Toward a New Music" (1937), one of the first books in which a composer speaks about electronic music.

Bibliography

*Chávez, Carlos. 1937. "Toward a New Music: Music and Electricity", translated from the Spanish by Herbert Weinstock, with eight illustrations by Antonio Ruíz. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. Reprinted, New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. ISBN 0306707195 First Spanish edition, as "Hacia una nueva música: ensayo sobre música y electricidad". México: El Colegio Nacional, 1992. ISBN 9686664639
*Chávez, Carlos. 1997– . "Obras", compiled and edited by Gloria Carmona. México: El Colegio Nacional. ISBN 9706400729 (set); ISBN 9706400737 (vol. 1: "Escritos periodísticos (1916-1939)")
*Parker, Robert L. 1985. "Carlos Chávez, Mexico's Modern-Day Orpheus". wayne's Music Series. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805794557
*Parker, Robert L. 1998. "Carlos Chávez: A Guide to Research". Composer Resource Manuals 46; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1925. New York: Garland. ISBN 0815320876

External links

* [http://www.chez.com/craton/musique/chavez/english.htm Thorough review of Chávez, his life, and works.]