Maurice Ohana (12 June 1913 – 13 November 1992) was a French composer. Ohana's output includes choral works,

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

s, suites for

ten-string guitar There are many varieties of ten-string guitar, including: * Both electric and acoustic guitars. * Instruments used principally for classical, folk and popular music. * Both coursed and uncoursed instruments. Uncoursed ten-stringed guitars ...

, a ''Tiento'' for six-string guitar, and operas.

Life and career

Ohana was born in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, Morocco (during the French protectorate). His father, an Andalusian of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

descent, had been born in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, while his mother had Andalusian- Castilian origins. Ohana inherited British citizenship from his father. . He originally studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, but abandoned this in favour of a musical career, initially as a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He studied under

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

in Rome, returning to France in 1946. Around this time he founded the "Groupe Zodiaque", which fought against prevailing musical dogma. His mature musical style shows the influence of Mediterranean

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, particularly the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

n ''

cante jondo ''Cante jondo'' (Andalusian ) is a vocal style in flamenco, an unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music. The name means "deep song" in Spanish, with ''hondo'' ("deep") spelled with J () as a form of eye dialect, because traditional Andalusian pro ...

''. In 1976 he took French citizenship. Ohana's output includes the choral works ''Office des Oracles'' and ''Avoaha'' (1992), three

string quartets The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

(1963, 1980, 1989), and two suites for

: ''Si le jour paraît...'' (1963) and ''Cadran lunaire'' (1981–82), as well as a ''Tiento'' for six-string guitar (1957). He also wrote operas entitled ''Syllabaire pour Phèdre'' and ''La Célestine'' (based on ''

La Celestina ''The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea'' ( es, Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), known in Spain as ''La Celestina'' is a work entirely in dialogue published in 1499. It is attributed to Fernando de Rojas, a descendant of converted Jews, ...

'' (1499). He is also known for his extensive use of

microtonality Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—interval (music), intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Wes ...

; for example, third- and quarter-tones in pieces like ''Le Tombeau de Debussy'' and ''Si le jour paraît...''. He was influenced by the use of microintervals in the ''cante jondo''. Ohana rarely composed for large symphony orchestra: ''Synaxis'' (1966), ''Livre des Prodiges'' (1979) and ''T'Harân-Ngô'' (1974). He composed two cello concertos, one

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...

and a guitar concerto (1958; dedicated to

Narciso Yepes Narciso Yepes (14 November 19273 May 1997) was a Spanish guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century. Biography Yepes was born into a family of humble origin in Lorca, Region of Murcia. ...

).Liner notes to the Narciso Yepes recording. Ohana died in Paris, aged 79.

References

Sources *

External links

Website
of ''Les Amis de Maurice Ohana'' (in French)
Profile
Éditions Billaudot * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohana, Maurice 1913 births 1992 deaths 20th-century classical composers French classical composers French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers Jewish classical composers Microtonal musicians Moroccan composers Moroccan emigrants to France 20th-century Moroccan Jews Musicians from Casablanca People of Andalusian descent 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Erato Records artists

Life and career

References

Further reading

External links