Otto Mayer-Serra (1904 in Barcelona, Spain – 1968 in Mexico City), was a Spanish-Mexican

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

known for being one of the first musicologist to write a systematic study of 20th century

Mexican music The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably deriving from the culture of the Europeans, Indigenous, and Africans. It also ...

Life

His father was a German of Jewish origin. He was later adopted by the Spanish family Serra in 1934 when he became Spanish citizen. Mayer-Serra studied music in Barcelona, although his music education came from the German and French school. While living in Barcelona, he became a music critic and during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

he worked in the music department for the support of the

Generalitat Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia were ...

. In 1937 his ''Cancionero Revolucionario Internacional'' (International and revolutionary Songbook) was published, in which he collected many revolutionary songs of the time by composers such as

Silvestre Revueltas Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (December 31, 1899 – October 5, 1940) was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor. Life Revueltas was born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, and studied at the National Conservatory ...

and

Rodolfo Halffter Rodolfo Halffter Escriche (October 20, 1900 – October 14, 1987) was a Spanish composer. Early years Born in Madrid, Spain, into a family of musicians, Rodolfo Halffter was the brother of Ernesto Halffter and uncle of Cristóbal Halffter, also c ...

. He joined the music magazine ''Música'', which had important support from the official Spanish government. There he published the first Spanish articles on the concept of

Sociomusicology Sociomusicology (from Latin: ''socius'', "companion"; from Old French ''musique''; and the suffix ''-ology'', "the study of", from Old Greek λόγος, ''lógos'' : "discourse"), also called music sociology or the sociology of music, refers to bo ...

, ''En torno de una Sociología de la Música''. Along with Rodolfo Halffter he suffered the bombing of

Figueras Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museum ...

, where he lost part of his work. During that period he wrote in other magazines like '' Hora de España''. In 1939 he moved to Mexico. There he worked as musicologist and music critic in the journal ''Últimas Novedades'' and in the magazine ''Tiempo'' as well as in programming concerts. He was artistic director of the Orquesta de Jalapa. One of his first writings was ''Silvestre Revueltas, su vida y su obra'' (Silvestre Revueltas, his life and work) was published in the magazine ''Hoy'' in Mexico City. ''Música y músicos de Latinoamérica'' (Music and musicians of Latin America) became his most important work and is one of the leading source for Latin American music studies.

Sources

* Casares, Emilio. ''Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana''. Sociedad general de autores y editores.
“From the People to the People: The Reception of Hanns Eisler’s Critical Theory of Music in Spain through the Writings of Otto Mayer-Serra”
in: Musicologica Austriaca. Journal for Austrian Music Studies (Österreichsische Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft). http://www.musau.org/parts/neue-article-page/view/76 * “Ludwig van Beethoven y el materialismo dialéctico en la historiografía musical marxista de Otto Mayer-Serra (1933–1939)”, in: Beethoven ibérico. Dos siglos de transferencia cultural. Ed. Teresa Cascudo (Granada: Comares, 2021), 287–301. Mexican musicologists Spanish musicologists 1904 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Spanish musicians 20th-century musicologists Spanish emigrants to Mexico {{Mexico-musician-stub