Classical Principle Weekly
November 29, 2022
Classical Music and Folk Music in Ibero-America Part 3: the Revolutionary Nineteenth Century
The Nineteenth century was a very exciting time for Ibero-America, and its music. Up until then, the new music of Ibero-America, although integrated with local folk music, still largely followed European trends. Now, it sought independence from Europe (though never abandoning what Europe had accomplished), as virtually all of Ibero-America moved towards independence, and fought to become Republics. (Even though many nations experienced different steps towards independence over the years, most of them took the first steps between 1800 and 1830).
Despite whatever flaws Ibero-America may have inherited from the French Revolution and elsewhere, it is today, almost all independent, with the exception of a few islands in the Caribbean. One cannot help but think that the high level of musical culture established in Ibero-America from the very beginning (see Part 1) contributed to the ideas of patriotism and independence.
VENEZUELA
Take José Lino Gallardo (1773-1837), and Juan Francisco Meserón (1779-1850?)
As a core part of their openly expressed patriotism, these composers participated in institutionalizing musical education as an essential part of nation building. José Lino Gallardo established a music academy and philharmonic society in early 1800s. Meserón wrote “Explicación y conocimiento de los principios generales de la Música” (1824), the first book on music theory in Venezuela.
1. Canción Americana :José Lino Gallardo (1773-1837)
2. Colombianos, la fama publica (1827): Juan Francisco Meserón (1779-1850?)
While such men composed such openly patriotic vocal works, great instrumental beauty complemented such sentiment. Two generations later, Felipe Larrazábal (1816-73), who studied with Meserón—a prominent politician, journalist and lawyer—founded a journal, El Patriota, governed a province, wrote one of the first biographies of Bolivar, and drafted the Law for the Abolition of Slavery in Venezuela. He was also one of the best Venezuelan pianists and composers.
The 3rd movement of this delightful Mendelssohn-like trio, displays the same spirit and soul:
3. Trio # 2 in A - 3rd movement: Felipe Larrazábal
Later in the century, Venezuelan composer Federico Villena (1835-1889 ), composed a Quintet with the same unusual instruments employed by Franz Schubert in his Trout Quintet (including a double bass.) We present the entire Quintet for your enjoyment.
4. Quintet in e minor: Federico Villena
He is also said to be the father of the Venezuelan Waltz, which changed the European waltz in form, and by adding African and local rhythms. We shall hear some Venezuelan waltzes in part 4, the 20th century. Meanwhile here is a beautiful performance of a Peruvian waltz.
5. https://youtu.be/ZzGOFEb10mQ
GUADELOUPE
But before we continue, we must return to the previous century and acknowledge a leading revolutionary of the era—the French-speaking Joseph Bologne (1746-1799), also known as the Chevalier Saint Georges. He was the son of a wealthy planter in Guadeloupe, and a 16-year-old African slave girl named Nanon. Fortunately his father acknowledged him, and sent him off to Paris at age 7 with his mother, where they might have a better chance.
There, he rose to heights. He excelled in violin, fencing, conducting, and dancing, just to name a few. He joined the bodyguard of the King, and became music teacher to Marie Antoinette. He commissioned Haydn to compose the "Paris Symphonies" for his orchestra "Le Concert Olympique", and he conducted their world premiers. When he was nominated to conduct the Paris Opera though, racism reared its ugly head, and objections were made because of his skin color. He withdrew. In 1778 he lived for 2.5 months next to Mozart in the Chaussee d'Antin. Some say that Mozart’s famous “Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K.364” came from St. Georges’ Sinfornia Concertante, the form of which St. Georges created the year before. Beethoven is said to have admired him. He later became an abolitionist and travelled to London to meet with William Wilberforce and the King, to lobby against slavery.
When the French Revolution broke out, he formed an all-black regiment, the Legion de St. Georges, to defend France (in 1790?) Later, like LaFayette, he was imprisoned. The revolution in St. Domingue (which in 1804 established the free nation of Haiti) broke out in 1791. (ft1) Boulogne went to Haiti to serve as a military leader, and to found an orchestra.
6. Sinfonia Concertante in G major: Chevalier de St. Georges-Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble
Ft 1 This is one of the great failures of civilization. The world should have welcomed the first slaves' revolt. It inspired many, including in South America. Toussaint L'Ouverture was inspired by the French and American revolutions. It was the first revolution in the western hemisphere after the American Revolution. He sought their support. The British, even while at war with France, sent troops to suppress him. The U.S. betrayed him. Napoleon betrayed him. The son of General Rochambeau, who played a key role in the American victory at Yorktown, loaded sulphur on to ships full of slave rebels, set the ships afire, and called it "fumigation." Their punishment for that rebellion, is that today, Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere.
ARGENTINA
Music and political advances were closely connected in Argentina. A few historic Argentinians served as both politicians and composers. It’s quite wonderful to see.
1. Amancio Jacinto Alcorta (1805-1862) was elected in 1826 to the Argentine Congress. He formed part of the modern Senate's first Committee on Customs Regulation. He was also a noted supporter of the expansion of domestic credit, which he hoped could avoid excess reliance on the often usurious loans obtained in Paris. He wrote a treatise, “Banks and Their Usefulness in Argentina”, which lead to his appointment to the Public Credit Administration, and he served as President of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange from 1855 to 1857. With all this and 9 children he managed to compose numerous waltzes, minuets, nocturnes and contra dances, as well as numerous pieces of chamber music for piano and flute, as well as numerous works of sacred music.
2. Juan Pedro Esnaola (1808-1878), from Buenos Aires occupied several official positions, including the administration of the Serenos (night watchmen), the direction of the provincial mint, the presidency of the bourgeois Club del Progreso (1858), and that of the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires (1866).
2. Alcorta's friend, Juan Bautista Alberdi (1810 – 1884) was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat who influenced the Argentina Constitution of 1853. Although he worked to balance national and local interests, he was heavily in favor of a strong federal system to create a unified state.
7. The following link presents 3 Minuets, by Alcorta, Esnaola, and Alberdi, in that order.
Alcorta begins at 00:00. Esnaola at 03:25. Alberdi at 05:19
Later in the century, Afro-Argentine composer Zenón Rolón (1856-1902), who had studied with fellow Afro-Argentine, Alfredo Quiroga, organist of the Iglesia de la Merced (Church of Our Lady of Mercy), wrote “Dos palabras a mis hermanos de casta” (Two Words to my Caste Brothers), a political pamphlet on the role of Afro-Argentines in wider Argentine culture. He wrote a Funeral March for the Argentinian hero, known as the liberator of Argentina Chile and Peru, General Jose de San Martin. Rolón himself conducted its premiere performance when San Martín's remains were repatriated to Argentina in 1880. He also began a music publishing company to promote the works of Argentinian composers.
8. ¡Ay! Madre mía! ZENÓN ROLÓN
Francisco Hargreaves was an Argentinian opera composer. Here is a Tango-like piece by him.
9. La Rubia: Francisco Hargreaves
BOLIVIA
Modesta Sanjinés Uriarte (1832-1887 was a Bolivian composer. Her "El Alto de Alianza" (the end of the alliance) lamented the end of the Peru-Bolivia alliance against Chile with the battle of Tacna.
10. https://youtu.be/cSx FOxeS 1h8
BRAZIL
The great José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767–1830) reached new heights in Brazil, and became, in fact, Director of Music for the Portuguese Empire, unprecedented for a mulatto. Listen to his 1809 “Te Deum”, and you will understand why (See Classical Principle of Aug 9th )
Nunes Garcia trained most of the next generation of Brazilian musicians. He was so poor that they all learned on one guitar that they shared. One of his students, Francisco Manuel da Silva, founded the Imperial Academia de Música e Ópera Nacional (National Imperial Music and Opera Academy), of Sociedade Beneficência Musical e Conservatório Imperial de Música, which became Instituto Nacional de Música (Nacional Music Institute) and is called the Rio de Janeiro University Music School.
Da Silva composed the Brazilian National Anthem, but saved its release for the very day in 1831, April 13th, when the Emperor resigned and sailed back to Portugal. It sounds like an opera chorus, and to this day it poses a real challenge to soccer fans. How can fans remain silent when their national anthem is playing?
11. Hino National Braziliero: Francisco Manuel da Silva
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a U.S. patriotic composer, who made Fantasias on "The Union", and The Battle Cry of Freedom", celebrating the Union’s victory in the Civil War. He was a good enough pianist, that Frederick Chopin told him that he had the potential to become the best in the world. He lived in Brazil, and wrote a Fantasy on their national anthem. Unfortunately his music can tend towards the "flashy" side.
Late in the 19th century, Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920), defended republican and abolitionist causes, and was active in campaigns that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Monarchy and the establishment of the First Brazilian Republic in 1889.
He actively championed the use of the Portuguese language in opera and song, against those who thought the language was unsuitable for bel canto singing, and composed mostly in Italian. Here are two songs by him, in Portuguese, that incorporate folk elements.
12. Xácara" and "Cantilena: Alberto Nepomuceno
He also undertook the difficult task of setting a Sonnet by Dante Alighieri, in Italian. The sonnet is from Dante’s “Vita Nuova”, and describes Beatrice, who guides Dante through Paradiso.
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
la donna mia quand’ella altrui saluta,
ch’ogne lingua devien tremando muta,
e li occhi no l’ardiscon di guardare.
Ella si va, sentendosi laudare,
benignamente d’umiltà vestuta;
e par che sia una cosa venuta
da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare.
Mostrasi sì piacente a chi la mira,
che dà per li occhi una dolcezza al core,
che ’ntender no la può chi no la prova:
e par che de la sua labbia si mova
uno spirito soave pien d’amore,
che va dicendo a l’anima: sospira
( this translation may not be the best and we welcome a better one:
So kind and so honest
my lady seems, when she greets others,
that every tongue becomes, trembling, mute,
and their eyes do not dare to look.
She goes, feeling praised,
dressed in kindness and humility,
and it seems that it is something that has come
from heaven to earth, to show a miracle.
Showing itself so pleasant to those who aim at it
who give a sweetness to the heart of her through their eyes,
that 'ntender can't do it who can't try it;
and it seems that from her lips moves
a sweet spirit full of love,
which is saying to her soul: she sighs.
13. Un soneto del Dante: Alberto Nepomuceno
MEXICO
Cenobio Paniagua y Vásques (1821-) conducted the same Cathedral of Mexico City as Zumaya and Ignacio Jerusalem y Stella in the previous century (see Part 2), but also composed this rousing chorus:
14. La independencia: Cenobio Paniagua y Vásques (September 30, 1821-1882)
Later in the century, Felipe de Jesús Villanueva Gutiérrez (1862 -1893) composed a tribute for piano, to Mexican President Juarez, who had collaborated with Abraham Lincoln.
15. Lamento a la memoria del gran patricio Benito Juárez: Felipe de Jesús Villanueva Gutiérrez (1862 -1893) https://youtu.be/1oNhIzyzjG8
On a less programmatic note, he composed classical dances.
16. Tercera Mazurka, Op 27: Felipe Villanueva
If you have ever been ice skating, you have heard the waltz, " Sobre los Olas". What you may not know, is that it was conducted by a young Otomi Mexican, Juventino Rosas, who began as a street musician, and only lived to the tender age of 26. It is so good, that it was long attributed to Johann Strauss Jr.!
17. Sobre los Olas: Juventino Rosas:
PUERTO RICO
Manuel Gregorio Tavárez Ropero (1843 –1883), was known as the "Chopin of America," and "Father of the Puerto Rican Danza." This piece features local dance rhythms in its middle section.
18. La Sensitiva: Manuel G. Tavarez
Felipe Gutierrez y Espinosa (1825-1899) was another famous Puerto Rican composer.
19. La Despedida (The Farewell): Felipe Gutierrez y Espinosa
We apologize to composers, or even entire nations that have been left out. It is a huge area. We hope that these postings encourage more research and discourse.
We will end with the Brazilian composer, Carlos Gomez (1836-1896), who, in the late 19th century, was the first Ibero-American composer to win the acclaim of Europe, including their greatest opera composer, Verdi, who said that Gomez' operas expressed "true musical genius." (See posting of August 9th)
He composed "Lo Schiavo" polemicizing aginst the institution of slavery, as well as “Il Guarany”, prtraying the virtue of the native people in the Paraguay area, as well as " A Salute from Brazil" for the American Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia.
A young Alberto Nepomuceno became head of the Carlos Gomez Club in 1882 at the age of 18. You can hear his Ave Maria, and duet from I Guarini.
The wealth of beautiful music is stunning. No other colonization in the world ever experienced such an infusion of culture. Equally stunning is that it had functioned, from the earliest efforts, in the service of freedom.
Part 4 will discuss the 20th century.