Juan José Castro (March 7, 1895September 3, 1968) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

composer and conductor. Born in

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is conne ...

, Castro studied piano and violin under Manuel Posadas and composition under Eduardo Fornarini, in Buenos Aires. In the 1920s he was awarded the Europa Prize, and then went on to study in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

at the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded ...

under

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the P ...

and Édouard Risler. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1925, he was named conductor of the Renacimiento Chamber Orchestra in 1928 and the Teatro Colón in 1930. From 1939 to 1943 he was a professor at the Buenos Aires Conservatory. Castro's international career began in the 1940s. In 1947 he conducted the Havana Philharmonic, and the Sodre Orchestra in

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 ...

in 1949. In 1952-53 he was the conductor of the

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on f ...

(then known as the Victorian Symphony Orchestra) in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

.eMelbourne: the city past and present
/ref> He returned to the Americas and conducted the National Symphony in Buenos Aires from 1956-1960. From 1960 to 1964, he was director of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. Castro's brothers, José María and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, were also both composers. Juan José Castro married the daughter of the composer Julián Aguirre. He died in Buenos Aires in 1968, aged 73.

Works

''Note: This list is incomplete'' *''Violin Sonata'', 1914 *''Cello Sonata'', 1916 *''Piano Sonata No. 1'', 1917 *''A una madre'', 1925 *''Symphony No. 1'', 1931 *''Biblical Symphony'', 1932 *''Mekhano'',

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

, 1934 *''Sinfonia Argentina'', 1934 *''Symphony No. 3'', 1936 *''Symphony No. 4'', 1939 *''Piano Sonata No. 2'', 1939 *''Offenbachiana'', ballet, 1940 *''Piano Concerto'', 1941 *''String Quartet'', 1942 *''La zapatera prodigosa''

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

after

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

, 1943 *''Martin Fierro'',

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 o ...

, 1944 *''El Llanto de las Sierras'', 1947 *''Corales Criollos No. 1 & 2'', piano, 1947 *''Proserpina y el extranjero'' (

Proserpina Proserpina ( , ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whose ...

and the Foreigner), opera after Omar del Carlo, 1951 *''Bodas de sangre'' (Marriage of Blood), opera after Lorca, 1952 *''Corales Criollos No. 3'', orchestra, 1953 *''Symphony No. 5'', 1956 *''Epitafio en ritmos y sonidos'', chorus and orchestra, 1961 *''Suite introspectiva'', orchestra, 1962

Notes

References

* Don Randel, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music''. Harvard, 1996, p. 144. 1895 births 1968 deaths People from Avellaneda Argentine people of Galician descent Argentine conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Argentine classical composers Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) Male classical composers 20th-century male musicians {{Argentina-composer-stub