Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 – January 13, 1993) was a Brazilian composer. Guarnieri was born in Tietê, São Paulo. He studied piano, composition, and conducting in São Paulo and Paris. His compositions received significant recognition in the United States during the 1940s, leading to conducting opportunities in major American cities. A key figure in the Brazilian national school, Guarnieri served as a conductor, a member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório. His extensive oeuvre includes symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs. Regarded by some as the most important Brazilian composer after

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...

, Guarnieri was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Prize shortly before his death.

Name

Guarnieri was born in

Tietê, São Paulo Tietê is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo, located in the Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba, in the Meso-region of Piracicaba and in the Microregion of Piracicaba. It is located at latitude 23º06'07 "south and at a longitude ...

, and registered at birth as Mozart Guarnieri, but when he began a musical career, he decided his first name was too pretentious. Thus he adopted his mother's maiden name Camargo as a middle name, and thenceforth signed himself M. Camargo Guarnieri. In 1948, he legally changed his name to Mozart Camargo Guarnieri, but continued to sign only the initial of his first name. Guarnieri's Italian father, Michele Guarneri, a lover of classical music, named one of Camargo's brothers Rossine (a Portuguese misspelling of

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

), and two others Verdi and Bellini.

Life

Guarnieri studied piano with Ernani Braga and and composition with at the

Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo The Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo (Musical and Dramatic Conservatory of São Paulo) was a conservatory for students of music in São Paulo, Brazil. The Conservatory was founded on February 15, 1906, and inaugurated officially o ...

. In 1938, a fellowship from the Council of Artistic Orientation allowed him to travel to Paris, where he studied composition and aesthetics with

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things ...

and conducting with

François Ruhlmann François Ruhlmann (11 January 1868 – 8 June 1948) was a Belgian conductor. Life and career Born in Brussels, Ruhlmann was a pupil of Joseph Dupont in his native city. As a child he sang in the chorus at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, a ...

. Some of his compositions received important prizes in the United States in the 1940s, giving Guarnieri the opportunity of conducting them in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. A distinguished figure of the Brazilian national school, he served in several capacities; conductor of the São Paulo Orchestra, member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório, where he taught composition and orchestral conducting. In 1936 he was the first conductor of the Coral Paulistano choir. His œuvre comprises

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

s, two operas,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, many piano pieces, and over fifty songs. In 1972, in Porto Alegre, his compatriot Roberto Szidon gave the first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 4. In 1962 the Soviet Union invited him to participate in the third Congress of Composers in Moscow. Shortly before his death in São Paulo in 1993, he was awarded the Gabriela Mistral Prize by the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

as the greatest contemporary composer of the Americas.

Works

Operas

*''Pedro Malazarte'' (comic opera in one act,

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Mário de Andrade, premiered in May 1952 at the Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro)) *''Um homem só'' (tragic opera in one act, libretto by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, premiered on November 29, 1962, at the Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro))

Orchestral

*Symphonies **Symphony No. 1 (1944) **Symphony No. 2 "Uirapuru" (1945) **Symphony No. 3 (1952) **Symphony No. 4 "Brasília" (1963) **Symphony No. 5 (1977) **Symphony No. 6 (1981) *Overtures **''Abertura Concertante'' (1942) **''Abertura Festiva'' (1971) *Suites **''Suite infantil'' (1929) **''Tres Dansas para Orquestra'' (1941). The first dance is "Dansa Brasileira" (originally composed for piano in 1928), which is his best-known and most-recorded piece outside South America. **''Suite IV Centenario'' (1954) **''Suite Vila Rica'' (1957), taken from the music for the film ''Rebelião em Vila Rica'' *Homenagem a Villa-Lobos (1966) for Winds, Piano and Percussion *Concerto for Orchestra and Percussion (1972)

Concertante

*Piano **Piano Concerto No. 1 (1931) **Piano Concerto No. 2 (1946) **''Chôro'' for piano and orchestra (1956) **Piano Concerto No. 3 (1964) **''Seresta'' for Piano and Orchestra (1965) **Piano Concerto No. 4 (1968) **Piano Concerto No. 5 (1970) **Piano Concerto No. 6 (1987) **Variations (''Variações sobre um tema nordestino'') for Piano and Orchestra (1953) *Violin **Violin Concerto No. 1 (1940). This concerto won a Latin-American violin concerto contest in 1943 sponsored by the Pan American Union, prize money donated by Samuel Fels. **''Chôro'' for violin and orchestra (1951) **Violin Concerto No. 2 (1952) *Viola **''Chôro'' for viola and orchestra (1975) *Cello **''Chôro'' for cello and orchestra (1961). Written for Aldo Parisot, premiered in Carnegie Hall in 1962. *Flute **Chôro for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1972) *Clarinet **Chôro for Clarinet and Orchestra (1956) *Bassoon **Chôro for Bassoon and Chamber Orchestra (1991)

Chamber/instrumental

*String quartets **String Quartet No. 1 (1932) **String Quartet No. 2 (1944) **String Quartet No. 3 (1962) *Cello sonatas **Cello Sonata No. 1 (1931) **Cello Sonata No. 2 (1955) **Cello Sonata No. 3 (1977) *Violin sonatas **Violin Sonata No. 1 (? apparently lost in a taxi) **Violin Sonata No. 2 (1933) **Violin Sonata No. 3 (1950) **Violin Sonata No. 4 (1956) **Violin Sonata No. 5 (1959) **Violin Sonata No. 6 (1965) **Violin Sonata No. 7 (1977–1978) *''Canção Sertaneja'' for Violin and Piano (1955) *''Encantimento'' for Violin and Piano (1947) *Viola Sonata (1950) *Sonatina for Flute and Piano (1947) *Flor de Tremembe, for Fifteen Instruments and Percussion (1960)

Piano

*''Dança Brasileira'' (1928) *''Dança Selvagem'' (1931) *Ponteios, Book I (1931–35) *''Dança Negra'' (1946) *Ponteios, Book II (1947–49) *Estudo No. 1 (1949) *Estudo No. 2 (1949) *Estudo No. 3 (1949) *Estudo No. 4 (1954) *Estudo No. 5 (1950) *Suite Mirim (1953) *Ponteios, Book III (1954–55) *Ponteios, Book IV (1956–57) *Ponteios, Book V (1958–59) *Sonatina No. 3 for Piano *Sonatina No. 4 for Piano (1958) *Sonatina No. 6 for Piano *Estudo No. 6 (1962) *Estudo No. 7 (1962) *Estudo No. 8 (1962) *Estudo No. 9 (1962) *Estudo No. 10 (1962) *Estudo No. 11 (1968) *Estudo No. 12 (1968) *Estudo No. 13 (1969) *Estudo No. 14 (1969) *Estudo No. 15 (1970) *Piano Sonata (1972) *Estudo No. 16 (1984) *Estudo No. 17 (1985) *Estudo No. 18 (1981) *Estudo No. 19 (1988) *Estudo No. 20 (1982)

Vocal

*Cinco Poemas de Alice (1954) for Soprano and Piano

References

Sources * *

External links

About Camargo Guarnieri in Larousse
*, Nelson Freire {{DEFAULTSORT:Guarnieri, Camargo 1907 births 1993 deaths People from Tietê, São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian classical composers Brazilian male composers 20th-century classical composers Male classical composers 20th-century male musicians Commanders of the Order of Ipiranga