![Isabel Aretz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Isabel_Aretz.jpg)
Isabel Aretz (14 April 1909 – 2 June 2005) was an
Argentine–
Venezuelan researcher, writer,
ethnomusicologist and composer.
Early years
Isabel Aretz-Thiele 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 ...
. She was educated at the National Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts, studying pedagogy, piano with
Rafael González and harmony, counterpoint and composition with
Althos Palma. She earned a doctorate in music from Catholic University of Argentina in 1968.
Career
After completing her initial studies, Aretz became a senior lecturer at the National Conservatory and began work as an ethnomusic researcher and composer. In 1937 her orchestral work ''Punto'' premiered at the Teatro Cervantes. In the next decade, she collected and recorded traditional music, traveling in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Bolivia and
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
. In 1947 she married Venezuelan musician and writer
Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera.
She was asked that same year to organize the music section of the Folklore Research Service established in Venezuela, and she continued her research on folk music there. In 1966 she was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship to record native melodies in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Colombia,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
and Central America.
Aretz-Thiele founded the American Institute of Ethnomusicology and Folklore (INIDEF) in Venezuela and chaired the institution from 1990 and 1995. She became a professor of ethnomusicology at the School of Arts, Central University of Venezuela, and at Indiana University in the United States. She was also a guest lecturer at other universities in Mexico and
Colombia.
Aretz-Thiele published a number of journal articles and about twenty-five books on American folklore, plus an autobiography. After her husband died in 1992, she was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Argentina, and she returned to
San Isidro to live and work until her death in June 2005.
[ Murió en Argentina la investigadora Isabel Aretz]
Awards and honors
*Order of Andrés Bello of the Government of Venezuela
*Premio Nacional de Música "José Angel Lamas"
*First Prize for Musicology by the National Endowment for the Arts *Emeritus, Argentina Academy of Music in 1999
*Master Teacher, Catholic University of Valparaiso in 2000
*Gabriela Mistral International Prize of Arts and Music, awarded by the Organization of American States (OAS), Washington, USA
*Robert Stevenson International Musicological Award for research in ethnomusicology, Washington, USA
Works
Aretz-Thiele composed works for orchestra, symphonies, symphonic plays and choral works, and piano and harpsichord suites.
Selected works include:
*''Puneñas'', premiered at the Teatro Cervantes in Buenos Aires.
*''Páramo'', ballet premiered at the Aula Magna of the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
*''Jew's harp'', premiered at the International Festival of Mérida, Venezuela.
*''Yekuana'', premiered at the Aula Magna of the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
*''Argentina to death'', orchestra work after a poem by César Fernández Moreno, premiered at the Teatro Humboldt, Caracas.
*''Kwaltaya'', ethnodrama premiered at the Teatro Municipal, Caracas, Venezuela.
*''Constellation spectral'', symphony premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal.
*''Father Liberator'', symphonic and choral work, premiered at the American Music Festival at the John F. Center Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
*''Cries of a city'' released in Concert Mark May, New York.
*''Cosmos man'' works for piano and tape released in Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aretz, Isabel
1909 births
2005 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Argentine music educators
Argentine women music educators
Argentine women classical composers
Argentine classical composers
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
20th-century women composers
Argentine women composers
20th-century Argentine women educators
20th-century Argentine educators
Argentine ethnomusicologists
Women ethnomusicologists
Venezuelan classical composers
Venezuelan women classical composers
Venezuelan music educators
Venezuelan women music educators