Fernando González Casellas (October 15, 1925 – October 12, 1998) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
composer of classical music. A student of
Jaume Pahissa
Jaume Pahissa i Jo (also Jaime; October 8, 1880 – October 27, 1969, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a Spanish-born composer and musicologist.
From an article published in Le Figaro March 16, 1913: "We note the great success at the Liceo theater ...
, his early music was predominantly
atonal
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
, although his later compositions explored other musical forms and genres. He was the winner of several composition prizes in his native country and abroad for his vocal and instrumental music which included an opera, ''
Saverio el cruel'', and many works with religious or spiritual themes.
Fernando González Casellas was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, where he studied composition with the exiled
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
composer, Jaime Pahissa and
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
at the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...
. He died in Buenos Aires at the age of 73 while working on his second opera. González Casellas was married to the Argentine critic and author Ruth Mehl (1932 – 2010). The couple had two children, Fernando and Ximena.
Works
Fernando González Casellas composed 73 works, including:
[Works list based on Mehl (2001)]
;Vocal – Instrumental
*''Vocalise'' – premiered December 10, 1957,
LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
*''Vidrieras del silencio'' (text by Juan Carlos Pellegrini) – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
*''Río'' – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
*''Agnus Dei'' – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina.
*''Canción'' (text by Horacio E. Ratti) – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina
*Cantata Nº 1 ''Días que son condena'' (text by Osvaldo Rossler) – premiered May 14, 1970,
Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro
*''Balada'' for violin,
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
, and chamber orchestra (text by
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
and the ''
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...
'') – composed 1972
*''Tres Sonetos de El Libro Fiel de Leopoldo Lugones'' (text by
Leopoldo Lugones
Leopoldo Antonio Lugones Argüello (13 June 1874 – 18 February 1938) was an Argentine poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, professor, translator, biographer, philologist, theologian, diplomat, politician and journalist. His poetic ...
) – premiered July 15, 1977, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, 1975
*''Tres cantos para el dolor'' (text by the Chinese poets,
Cai Wenji
Cai Yan ( 178 – post 206; or 170–215; or died 249), courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was the daughter of Cai Yong. Her courtesy name was original ...
and
Xu Zhimo
Xu Zhimo (, , Mandarin: , 15 January 1897 – 19 November 1931) was a Chinese romantic poet who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under the influences of Western poetry and the vernacular Chinese langu ...
) – premiered April 8, 1981, Auditorio de Belgrano, Buenos Aires; awarded Second Prize, Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, 1983.
;Instrumental
*Sonata for cello and piano – composed 1961; recorded by LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
*''Tres piezas'' for piano – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969
*String Quartet No. 3 – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969
*''Siete invenciones para orquesta'' – premiered November 10, 1968,
Teatro Colón
The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...
, Buenos Aires
*''Tres Evocaciones'' (in memory of María Inés, Juan Litwiller, and Fernanda Lidia) – premiered July 4, 1973,
Teatro Coliseo
The Teatro Coliseo is a theatre in Retiro neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina which opened on July 8, 1905.
History
The Coliseum Theatre opened in 1905 as living the American circus clown Frank Brown, of great importance in the origins of ...
, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize in the Concurso Leonor Matilde H. de von Buch
*''Secuencias móviles'' – premiered December 6, 1976, Instituto Goethe, Buenos Aires; awarded the Premio TRINAC (Tribuna Nacional de Compositores), 1979
* ''Nocturno'' for viola and orchestra
;Opera
*''
Saverio el cruel'' – premiered December 7, 1996, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
References
Sources
*Ficher, Miguel; Schleifer, Martha Furman; Furman, John M. (1996)
''Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary'' Scarecrow Press, p. 148.
*Garff, Juan (May 19, 2010)
"Murió la decana de la escena infantil" ''
La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La Nac ...
''
*''
La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La Nac ...
'' (October 14, 1998)
"Falleció el compositor González Casellas"
*Mehl, Ruth (2001)
Catálogo de Obras: Fernando González Casellas Instituto Nacional de Musicología "Carlos Vega".
External links
Fernando González Casellas"on
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Casellas, Fernando
Argentine classical composers
20th-century classical composers
Argentine opera composers
1925 births
1998 deaths
Composers from Buenos Aires
Male classical composers
20th-century male musicians