(Group of the Four) is the name adopted by a group of four young Mexican composers in 1935, who organized together with the aim of propagating new music, particularly their own.

History

Carlos Chávez, who had replaced

Antonio Castro Leal Antonio Castro Leal (March 2, 1896 – January 7, 1981) was a Mexican diplomat and intellectual. Biography Antonio Castro Leal was born on March 2, 1896, in San Luis Potosí. He received his licenciate and doctor of law degrees from the ...

as director of the Mexican Conservatorio Nacional de Música in 1928, set about revising the curriculum to increase the emphasis on writing music in all styles. In 1931, he received approval from the Secretariat of Public Education to inaugurate a course in free composition, at first titled Class of Musical Creation, later renamed Composition Workshop. The first students enrolled in this class included some older members, such as Vincente Mendoza, Candelario Huízar, and Silvestre Revueltas, but also three young students under the age of twenty,

Daniel Ayala Daniel Sánchez Ayala (born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Blackburn Rovers. His first club was Premier League club Liverpool, where he spent two seasons as a reserve. He joined Norwich ...

Salvador Contreras Salvador Contreras Sánchez (10 November 1910 – 7 November 1982) was a Mexican composer and violinist, a member of the Grupo de los cuatro. Life Contreras was born in Cuerámaro, Guanajuato, the son of José Contreras and Nemoria Sánchez. H ...

, and

José Pablo Moncayo José Pablo Moncayo García (June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958) was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalis ...

. They were joined the next year by another pupil of their age group,

Blas Galindo Blas Galindo Dimas (February 3, 1910 – April 19, 1993) was a Mexican composer. Biography Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, studying with Carlos Chávez ...

. Early in 1933 Chávez relinquished the directorship of the Conservatory to assume the post of Chief of the Department of Fine Arts, a position he held for only a year, after which he resumed directorship of the Conservatory in May 1934. However, he only remained until December of that year, following the change of regime when

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

became president. Almost immediately on Chávez's departure the composition course was dropped, prompting Ayala, Contreras, Galindo, and Moncayo to demonstrate the validity of the suppressed course by presenting a program of their own compositions. For this purpose, they organized in 1935 (on the initiation of Contreras) as the Grupo de Jóvenes Compositores (Group of Young Composers), and gave their first concert under this name on 25 November 1935. The works performed included two works by Contreras (the Sonata for Violin and Cello and ''Danza'' for piano) and two by Moncayo (the Sonatina for piano and ''Amatzinac'', for flute and string quartet). A newspaper review of this concert, published two days later, referred them as the "Grupo de los Cuatro", with deliberate reference to the Russian " Mighty Five" and French " Les Six", and they adopted this as their name for their following concert on 26 March 1936 at the Teatro de Orientación. Their next program was a workers' concert, given on 17 June 1936, followed by their second "official" concert under the new name, on 15 October 1936. This included the Quartet for four cellos by Galindo and two works by Moncayo: the Sonatina for violin and piano, and ''Romanza'' for piano trio.

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History

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Further reading