Gerardo Guevara (born 23 September 1930) is one of the key composers in Ecuador. His work combines native music with contemporary techniques.
Biography
Born in Quito, Gerardo Guevara showed music ability at an early age. Because his father worked as a caretaker at the ''Conservatorio Nacional'', Guevara used to eavesdrop on the music dictations that were being given to older children and sometimes ventured to shout the answer before running away. When he was fifteen he started studying composition with
Luis H. Salgado. In 1952, while playing the piano in an orchestra in Guayaquil, he studied composition and the analysis of Bartok's music with the Hungarian musician Jorge Aq
From 1959 onwards and thanks to a ''
Unesco
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
'' grant, Guevara studied composition with Nadia Boulanger at the ''
École Normale de Musique de Paris
The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in Paris, Île-de-France, France. At the time of the school's foundation in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot, Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (Eng ...
'' where he graduated as a conductor. While in Paris, he also studied musicology at the University of
La Sorbonne
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
. After twelve years in France, he went back to Ecuador where in 1972 he formed the choir of the Central University of Quito. A year later, he created the ''Sayce'' (Society for the protection of musicians).
He acted as a conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra from 1974–75 and director of the Conservatorio Nacional (1980–88) where he taught composition and the history of Ecuadorian Music.
Mainly nationalist he nonetheless explored contemporary techniques, which led Robert Stevenson to write: "Guevara Viteri has drawn on European styles". More appropriately Béhague comments: "more advanced techniques of composition appeared in some of the works of Gerardo Guevara".
[Behague, 2001. 7:872] A prolific composer, he has also written essays and articles on music. As a teacher he also had a profound influence on his students.
Works
*''Inspiración'' for piano, 1950 (world premiere 2011 by Alex Alarcon Fabre)
*''Despedida'', ''pasillo'', 1957
*''Apanny Shungo'' for piano, 1958
* ''Yaguar shungo'' ballet for symphony orchestra and choir 1958
*''Geografía'' for baritone and piano (texts by
Jorge Enrique Adoum), 1960
*''Tierras'' for baritone and piano (text by
Jorge Carrera Andrade
Jorge Carrera Andrade was an Ecuadorian poet, historian, author, and diplomat during the 20th century. He was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1902. He died in 1978. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with Jorge Luis Borges, Vice ...
), 1960
*''First string quartet'', 1960
*''El Hombre Planetario'' for baritone and piano (texts by Carrera Andrade), 1962
*''Tres preludios'' for piano: ''Recitativo'', ''Albazo'' and ''Sanjuanito'', 1963
*''Cantata de la paz'' for baritone, orchestra and choir 1963-64
*''Second string quartet'', 1963–64
*''Atahualpa'' for choir, 1965
*''Indios'' for choir, 1965
*''Se va con algo mío'', ''pasillo'', 1967
*''Danzante del destino'', for ''pinkillu'', pan flute, harp, bombo, 2 guitars, contralto solo, choir, 1967
*''Danzante de la Ausencia'', choir, 1967
*''Yaraví del desterrado'', 1967
*''Tuyallay'', 1967
*''Ismos'' for violin, viola, cello, oboe, clarinet and piano, 1970
*''Ecuador'', orchestral suite, 1972
*''5 Miniaturas'' (''Panecillo'', ''Pichincha'', ''La Compañía'', ''Avenida Veinticuatro de Mayo'', ''Quito Norte'') for flute, French horn, oboe, clarinet and fagot, 1973
*''Quito arrabal del cielo'' for choir (text by Jorge Reyes), 1974
*''Galería siglo XX de pintores ecuatorianos'', orchestral suite, 1976
*''El Panecillo'', (texts by Eloy Proaño), 1977
*''Solsticio de Verano'', san juanito, 1977
*''Tres melodías para soprano y orquesta de cámara'' texts by Ana María Iza (''Iba a fugarme'', ''Pasillo'', ''Aquí me paro y grito''), 1978
*''Tríptico'' for choir, 1978
*''El espantapájaros,''
*''Jaguay'', vocal, 1980
*''Combate poético'' for baritone and piano, 1980
*''Otoño'' for voice and piano, 1980
*''Fiesta'' for piano, 1982
*''Diálogos'' for flute, piano (dedicated to Luciano Carrera), 1982
*''Recitativo and Danza'' for guitar, 1983
*''Juegos'', 1983
*''Suite Ecuatoriana'', for flute and piano1985
*''Cuaderno pedagógico'' for piano students, 1985–86
* ''Et in Terra Pax Hominibus'' for baritone and orchestra, text by
J. E. Adoum, 1987
*''Huayra Shina'' for soprano, baritone and orchestra, 1987
*''pasillo'' for piano, 1988
*''Historia'' for orchestra, 1990.
*''Del maíz al trigo'' (tonada), 1993.
*''De mestizo a mestizo'' for orchestra (in three movements), 1994
Discography
* ''Gerardo Guevara: Melodías y canciones''. Galo Cárdenas, Baritone; Marie Renée Portais, piano. Fediscos
::::::Lp 5403, 1982.
*''Música de nuestro tiempo'', Ifesa (LP 301-0293)
:::::Gerardo Guevara: ''Et in Terra Pax Hominibus'' for baritone & orchestra, text by
Jorge Enrique Adoum.
:::::other works by: M. Estévez, D. Luzuriaga,
M. Maiguashca &
A. Rodas
::::: ''Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional'' conducted by Alvaro Manzano
*''Despedida'', Ifesa Lp-CME. Guayaquil 1958. Piano: Gerardo Gevara.
*''Se va con algo mío'' in: Beatriz Parra, ''Noche lírica en Canal 2'', record no. 2, IFESA Lp-206-B. Guayaquil, 1973.
*''Danzante del destino''. ''Victor'' 45 rpm PB9027. Sweden, 1977.
*''Grandes temas de Música Ecuatoriana''
:::::Gerardo Guevara, ''El Espantapájaros''
:::::other works by: Sixto María Durán, Benítez & Valencia, etc
:::::Piano, Marcelo Ortiz
* ''Souvenir de l'Amérique du Sud'' CD. Piano: Marcelo Ortiz
:::::Pasillo (pasillo) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Fiesta (albazo) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Tonada (tonada) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::El espantapájaros (pasillo) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Apamuy Shungo (danzante) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Other works by:
Luis H. Salgado,
Enrique Espín Yépez, Sixto M. Durán, Miguel A. Casares
* ''Piano Music by Ecuadorian Composers'' CD. Piano:
lex Alarcon Fabre
:::::Pasillo (pasillo) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Fiesta (aire tipico) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Albazo (albazo) (Gerardo Guevara)
:::::Other works by:
Luis H. Salgado, Claudio Aizaga, Corsino Durán, Juan Pablo Muñoz Sanz
Bibliography
*"Gerardo Guevara", in: ''Grandes compositores ecuatorianos'', edited by Pablo Guerrero (G. CONMÚSICA, 1999)
* Béhague, Gerard: "Ecuador. Art Music", in: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', Second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie & John Tyrrel (London: Macmillan, 2001)
*Pérez Pimentel, Rodolfo
''Diccionario Biografico Ecuatoriano''
* Stevenson, Robert: "Quito", in: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', Second edition, edited by
Stanley Sadie & John Tyrrel (London: Macmillan, 2001)
*Walker, John L.: "The Younger Generation of Ecuadorian Composers", in: ''Latin American Music Review'' vol. 22, no. 2 (Fall/Winter 2001), pp. 199–213
Writings
*"La música coral en Ecuador", in: ''Diners'' no. 1, March 1980, pp. 30-33 (Quito: Diners Club del Ecuador)
*"Segunda Sonata para piano de
Luis H. Salgado", in: ''Opus'', vol. 3, no. 31, pp. 48–51 (Quito: Central Bank of Ecuador)
*''Vamos a cantar: cancionero popula'' (Quito: Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, 1991; repr. 1992)
References
External links
Homage to Gerardo Guevara''Fundación Filarmónica y Casa de la Música''
Six songs by Gerardo guevara
''The Art Song in Latin America: Selected Works by Twentieth-Century Composers''Latin-American choral scores.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guevara, Gerardo
1930 births
20th-century classical composers
Ecuadorian composers
Living people
Male classical composers
People from Quito
École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni
20th-century male musicians