Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt (August 26, 1925 – January 3, 2010) was a Chilean

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Biography and Career

Becerra-Schmidt was born in

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

, Chile. He studied at The Chilean National Conservatory, and was taught by Pedro Humberto Allende. Then in Europe from 1953 to 1956, where he brought back the avant-garde music culture from Europe to Chile. 3 years later, Becerra-Schmidt became the director of the ''Instituto de Extension Musical'' (IEM) in 1959 to 1962, the IEM was an establishment by

Domingo Santa Cruz Domingo Santa Cruz Wilson (July 5, 1899 – January 6, 1987) was a Chilean composer, music educator and lawyer. He won the National Prize of Art of Chile in 1951. References

1899 births 1987 deaths People from Quillota Province University ...

, it aimed to centralize and manage the Chilean music repertoire and to support Chilean music organizations. During this time and after, Becerra-Schmidt was a teacher in the Chilean National Conservatory, he held this position until 1971 when he became a

Cultural attaché A cultural attaché is a diplomat with varying responsibilities, depending on the sending state of the attaché. Historically, such posts were filled by writers and artists, giving them a steady income, and allowing them to develop their own creat ...

between Chile and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. 2 years later, Becerra-Schmidt moved to Germany due to the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, in Germany, Becerra-Schmidt taught at the

University of Oldenburg The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (german: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg) is a university located in Oldenburg, Germany. It is one of the most important and highly regarded educational facilities in northwestern Germany ...

beginning in 1974. Becerra was also an important teacher. Some of his pupils are among the most important composers of Chile, these include

Luis Advis Luis Advis Vitaglich (10 February 1935 – 9 September 2004)http://www.lanacion.cl/p4_lanacion/site ''Falleció Luis Advis, compositor de la "Cantata Santa María de Iquique"'' was a Chilean professor of philosophy, and a noted composer of traditi ...

, Sergio Ortega, Fernando García and Cirilo Vila. Becerra-Schmidt died on January 3, 2010, at his home in

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

Compositions

Becerra was a prolific Chilean composer, his catalogue includes hundreds of compositions that goes from traditional to

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

Aleatoric music Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word ''alea'', meaning "dice") is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the ...

, and from popular songs to large-scale

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 ...

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 ...

and

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

s. However, a large part of his musical career was politically involved, some of his cantatas included verses that were related to the

Pre-Columbian era In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the Migration to the New World, original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, w ...

and Spanish colonization, Becerra-Schmidt's student Fernando García also wrote works based around political figures. Highlights among his output are the cantatas ''La Araucana'' and ''Lord Cochrane de Chile'', the ''Macchu Picchu'' oratorio on texts by

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, the Concerto for Flute and Strings, and a most recent Harp Concerto from 2006. Important in his catalogue are also the electroacoustic works.

Selected works

*''La Araucana'' *''Lord Cochrane de Chile'' *''Macchu Picchu'' *3 Symphonies *2 Piano Concertos *Violin concerto *Flute concerto *7 string quartets *Saxophone quartet *''Parsifae'' (opera) *''La muerte de Don Rodrigo'' (opera) *''Llanto por el hermano solo'' (for choir) *''Responso para José Miguel Carrera'' (for voice, wind quintet, piano, and percussion) * Trio for violin, flute and piano *3 Sonatas for violin *''Provocacion'' (Minidrama) *''Oda al mar'' *''Nocturno''

Media

References

Notes

External links

* (in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Becerra-Schmidt, Gustavo 1925 births 2010 deaths Chilean composers Chilean male composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Chilean expatriates in Germany Male classical composers 20th-century male musicians 21st-century male musicians