Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (February 1, 1907 – January 13, 1993) was a Brazilian composer. Guarnieri was born in Tietê,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. He studied piano, composition, and conducting in São Paulo and Paris. His compositions received significant recognition in the United States during the 1940s, leading to conducting opportunities in major American cities. A key figure in the Brazilian national school, Guarnieri served as a conductor, a member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório. His extensive oeuvre includes symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, piano pieces, and songs. Regarded by some as the most important Brazilian composer after

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

, Guarnieri was awarded the

Gabriela Mistral Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator, and Catholic. She was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order or Third Franciscan order. She was ...

Prize shortly before his death.

Name

Guarnieri was born in

Tietê, São Paulo Tietê is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo, located in the Metropolitan Region of Sorocaba, in the Meso-region of Piracicaba and in the Microregion of Piracicaba. It is located at latitude 23º06'07 "south and at a longitude 47 ...

, and registered at birth as Mozart Guarnieri, but when he began a musical career, he decided his first name was too pretentious. Thus he adopted his mother's maiden name Camargo as a middle name, and thenceforth signed himself M. Camargo Guarnieri. In 1948, he legally changed his name to Mozart Camargo Guarnieri, but continued to sign only the initial of his first name. Guarnieri's Italian father, Michele Guarneri, a lover of classical music, named one of Camargo's brothers Rossine (a Portuguese misspelling of

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...

), and two others Verdi and Bellini.

Life

Guarnieri studied piano with Ernani Braga and and composition with at the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo. In 1938, a fellowship from the Council of Artistic Orientation allowed him to travel to Paris, where he studied composition and aesthetics with

Charles Koechlin Charles-Louis-Eugène Koechlin (; 27 November 186731 December 1950), commonly known as Charles Koechlin, was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. Among his better known works is '' Les Heures persanes'', a set of piano pieces based on th ...

and conducting with

François Ruhlmann François Ruhlmann (11 January 1868 – 8 June 1948) was a Belgian conductor. Life and career Born in Brussels, Ruhlmann was a pupil of Joseph Dupont (violinist), Joseph Dupont in his native city. As a child he sang in the chorus at the Théât ...

. Some of his compositions received important prizes in the United States in the 1940s, giving Guarnieri the opportunity of conducting them in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. A distinguished figure of the Brazilian national school, he served in several capacities; conductor of the São Paulo Orchestra, member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and Director of the São Paulo Conservatório, where he taught composition and orchestral conducting. In 1936 he was the first conductor of the Coral Paulistano choir. His œuvre comprises symphonies,

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s, two

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

, many piano pieces, and over fifty

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s. In 1972, in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, his compatriot Roberto Szidon gave the first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 4. In 1962 the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

invited him to participate in the third Congress of Composers in Moscow. Shortly before his death in

in 1993, he was awarded the

Prize by the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

as the greatest contemporary composer of the Americas.

Works

Operas

*''Pedro Malazarte'' (comic opera in one act,

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Mário de Andrade, premiered in May 1952 at the

Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro) The Theatro Municipal ("Municipal Theater") is an opera house in the Centro district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Built in the early twentieth century, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful and important theaters in the country. The bu ...

) *''Um homem só'' (tragic opera in one act, libretto by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, premiered on November 29, 1962, at the Theatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro))

Choral

Missa Diligite for Chorus and Organ (1972)

Orchestral

*Symphonies **Symphony No. 1 (1944) **Symphony No. 2 "Uirapuru" (1945) **Symphony No. 3 (1952) **Symphony No. 4 "Brasília" (1963) **Symphony No. 5 (1977) **Symphony No. 6 (1981) *Overtures **''Abertura Concertante'' (1942) **''Abertura Festiva'' (1971) *Suites **''Suite infantil'' (1929) **''Tres Dansas para Orquestra'' (1941). The first dance is "Dansa Brasileira" (originally composed for piano in 1928), which is his best-known and most-recorded piece outside South America. **''Suite IV Centenario'' (1954) **''Suite Vila Rica'' (1957), taken from the music for the film ''Rebelião em Vila Rica'' *Homenagem a Villa-Lobos (1966) for Winds, Piano and Percussion *Concerto for Orchestra and Percussion (1972)

Concertante

*Piano **Piano Concerto No. 1 (1931) **Piano Concerto No. 2 (1946) **''Chôro'' for piano and orchestra (1956) **Piano Concerto No. 3 (1964) **''Seresta'' for Piano and Orchestra (1965) **Piano Concerto No. 4 (1968) **Piano Concerto No. 5 (1970) **Piano Concerto No. 6 (1987) **Variations (''Variações sobre um tema nordestino'') for Piano and Orchestra (1953) *Violin **Violin Concerto No. 1 (1940). This concerto won a Latin-American violin concerto contest in 1943 sponsored by the

Pan American Union The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

, prize money donated by Samuel Fels. **''Chôro'' for violin and orchestra (1951) **Violin Concerto No. 2 (1952) *Viola **''Chôro'' for viola and orchestra (1975) *Cello **''Chôro'' for cello and orchestra (1961). Written for Aldo Parisot, premiered in Carnegie Hall in 1962. *Flute **Chôro for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1972) *Clarinet **Chôro for Clarinet and Orchestra (1956) *Bassoon **Chôro for Bassoon and Chamber Orchestra (1991)

Chamber/instrumental

*String quartets **String Quartet No. 1 (1932) **String Quartet No. 2 (1944) **String Quartet No. 3 (1962) *Cello sonatas **Cello Sonata No. 1 (1931) **Cello Sonata No. 2 (1955) **Cello Sonata No. 3 (1977) *Violin sonatas **Violin Sonata No. 1 (? apparently lost in a taxi) **Violin Sonata No. 2 (1933) **Violin Sonata No. 3 (1950) **Violin Sonata No. 4 (1956) **Violin Sonata No. 5 (1959) **Violin Sonata No. 6 (1965) **Violin Sonata No. 7 (1977–1978) *''Canção Sertaneja'' for Violin and Piano (1955) *''Encantimento'' for Violin and Piano (1947) *Viola Sonata (1950) *Sonatina for Flute and Piano (1947) *Flor de Tremembe, for Fifteen Instruments and Percussion (1960)

Piano

*''Dança Brasileira'' (1928) *''Dança Selvagem'' (1931) *Ponteios, Book I (1931–35) *''Dança Negra'' (1946) *Ponteios, Book II (1947–49) *Estudo No. 1 (1949) *Estudo No. 2 (1949) *Estudo No. 3 (1949) *Estudo No. 4 (1954) *Estudo No. 5 (1950) *Suite Mirim (1953) *Ponteios, Book III (1954–55) *Ponteios, Book IV (1956–57) *Ponteios, Book V (1958–59) *Sonatina No. 3 for Piano *Sonatina No. 4 for Piano (1958) *Sonatina No. 6 for Piano *Estudo No. 6 (1962) *Estudo No. 7 (1962) *Estudo No. 8 (1962) *Estudo No. 9 (1962) *Estudo No. 10 (1962) *Estudo No. 11 (1968) *Estudo No. 12 (1968) *Estudo No. 13 (1969) *Estudo No. 14 (1969) *Estudo No. 15 (1970) *Piano Sonata (1972) *Estudo No. 16 (1984) *Estudo No. 17 (1985) *Estudo No. 18 (1981) *Estudo No. 19 (1988) *Estudo No. 20 (1982)

Vocal

*Cinco Poemas de Alice (1954) for Soprano and Piano

References

Sources * *

External links

About Camargo Guarnieri in Larousse
*,

Nelson Freire Nelson José Pinto Freire (; 18 October 19441 November 2021) was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive di ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guarnieri, Camargo 1907 births 1993 deaths People from Tietê, São Paulo Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian male composers 20th-century Brazilian classical composers Brazilian male classical composers 20th-century Brazilian male musicians Commanders of the Order of Ipiranga