
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
,
conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the
Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six symphonies, the second, or ''
Sinfonía india'', which uses native
Yaqui
The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are an Indigenous people of Mexico and Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, who speak the Yaqui language, a Uto-Aztecan language.
Their primary homelands are in Río Yaqui valley in the no ...
percussion instruments, is probably the most popular.
Biography
The seventh child of a
criollo
Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to:
People
* Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system.
Animals
* Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America.
* Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...
family, Chávez was born on Tacuba Avenue in Mexico City, near the suburb of Popotla. His paternal grandfather,
José María Chávez Alonso, a former governor of the state of
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...
, had been executed by the French Army in April 1864 during its
second invasion of Mexico. His father, Augustín Chávez, who died when Carlos was barely three years old, invented a
plough
A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...
that was produced and used in the United States.
Carlos had his first piano lessons from his brother Manuel, and later on he was taught piano by Asunción Parra,
Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948), known in Mexico as Manuel M. Ponce, was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert s ...
, and Pedro Luis Ozagón, and harmony by Juan Fuentes. His family often holidayed in
Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...
,
Michoacán
Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...
,
Guanajuato
Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
, and other places where the cultural influence of the Mexican indigenous peoples was still very strong.
In 1916, Chávez and friends started a cultural journal, ''Gladios'', and this led to his joining the staff of the Mexico City newspaper in 1924. In the succeeding 36 years he was to write over 500 items for this paper.
After the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
and the installation of a democratically elected president,
Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated b ...
, Chávez became one of the first exponents of Mexican nationalist music with ballets on
Aztec
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...
themes.
In September 1922, Chávez married Otilia Ortiz and they went on honeymoon to Europe, from October 1922 until April 1923, spending two weeks in Vienna, five months in Berlin, and eight or ten days in Paris. During the latter visit he met
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas ( 1 October 1865 – 17 May 1935) was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, having abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions. His best-k ...
. Some months later, in December 1923, Chávez visited the United States for the first time, returning in March 1924. Chávez again went to New York City in September 1926 and stayed there until June 1928. Upon his return to Mexico, Chávez became director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Mexicana (Mexican Symphonic Orchestra), later renamed Orquesta Sinfónica de México (Mexico's Symphonic Orchestra); the country's first permanent orchestra, started by a musicians'
labor union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
. Chávez was instrumental in taking the orchestra on tour through Mexico's rural areas.
In December 1928, Chávez was appointed director of Mexico's National Conservatory of Music—a position he held for a total of five years (until March 1933, and again for eight months in 1934). In that capacity, Chávez spearheaded three , two concerned with collecting and cataloguing indigenous music and its literature, and the third to study the uses of old and new scales.
In 1937, Chávez published a book, ''Toward a New Music'', which is one of the first books in which a composer speaks about
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
. In 1938, he conducted a series of concerts with the
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, the parent corporation of the National Broadcasting Company especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC ...
, during a period of absence by the orchestra's regular conductor,
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
. In 1940 he produced concerts at New York's
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, and by 1945, Chávez had come to be regarded as the foremost Mexican composer and conductor.
From January 1947 until 1952, Chávez served as director-general of the
National Institute of Fine Arts. In his first year, he formed the
National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930 by cellist Hans Kindler, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The NSO regularly ...
, which supplanted the older OSM as Mexico's premier orchestra and led to the disbanding of the older ensemble. Throughout all this time, Chávez maintained a busy international touring schedule.

In May 1953 he was commissioned by
Lincoln Kirstein, director of the New York City center of Music and Drama, for a three-act opera to a libretto by
Chester Kallman based on a story by
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...
, to be titled ''The Tuscan Players''. Intended to be finished in August 1954, it was first postponed to April 1955, but only finally completed in 1956, by which time the title had been changed twice, first to ''Pánfilo and Lauretta'', then to . The City Center waived its rights to the first performance, which was given under the title ''Panfilo and Lauretta'' in the Brander Matthews Theatre at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in New York on 9 May 1957, under the baton of
Howard Shanet. Stage direction was by Bill Butler, scenic design by Herbert Senn and Helen Pond, and costumes by Sylvia Wintle. The principal singers were
Sylvia Stahlman, Frank Porretta,
Craig Timberlake, Mary McMurray, Michael Kermoyan, and
Thomas Stewart. The opera would be revised twice more and the title changed again to (''
The Visitors''), for productions in 1968 and 1973, in Mexico City and
Aptos, California
Aptos (Ohlone for "The People") is an unincorporated town in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The town is made up of several small villages, which together form Aptos: Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley, Aptos Village, Cabrillo, Seacliff, ...
, respectively.() From 1958 to 1959 he was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, and the
public lectures
A public lecture (also known as an open lecture) is one means employed for educating the public. Gresham College, in London, has been providing free public lectures since its founding in 1597 through the will of Sir Thomas Gresham. The Royal ...
he gave there were published as a book, ''Musical Thought''.
From 1970 to 1973, Chávez served as the music director of the
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is an annual Festival dedicated to contemporary symphonic music by living composers. The music director since 2017 has been Cristian Măcelaru. According to Jesse Rosen, CEO of the League of American Orc ...
. His orchestral composition ''Discovery'' (1969) had previously been commission by the Festival and was first performed there.
Failing health and financial setbacks forced Chávez to sell his house in the
Lomas de Chapultepec
Lomas de Chapultepec () is a ''Colonia (Mexico), colonia'', or officially recognized neighborhood, located in the Miguel Hidalgo, D.F., Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City. It dates back to the 1920s, when it was founded with the name Chapultep ...
neighborhood of Mexico City and move in with his daughter Anita in
Coyoacán
Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre- ...
, in the fringes of the Mexican capital, where he died quietly on 2 August 1978, his wife having died in April.
Chávez's manuscripts and papers are housed in the Music Division of the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...
and in the
National Archive of Mexico, in Mexico City.
Musical style
Chávez's music does not fall into clear stylistic periods, but rather cumulates elements in a process of continual synthesis. The
juvenilia
Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appear as retrospective publications, some time after the author has become well known for later works. Bac ...
, up to 1921 and consisting primarily of piano compositions, is essentially
Romantic, with
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
as the main influence. A period of nationalistic leanings was initiated in 1921 with the
Aztec
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...
-themed ballet (''The New Fire''), followed by a second ballet, (''The Four Suns''), in 1925.
During his time in New York City between 1924 and 1928, Chávez acquired a taste for the then-fashionable abstract and quasi-scientific music, as is reflected in the titles of many of his compositions written between 1923 and 1934: for piano (''Polygons'', 1923), for voice and piano (''Hexagons'', 1924), ''36'' for piano (1925), for nine instruments (''Energy'', 1925), for violin and piano (''Spiral'', 1934), and an unfinished orchestral score titled (''Pyramids'').
The culmination of this period was the ballet ''
H. P.'' (i.e., Horse Power), also known by the Spanish title (1926–31). ''H. P.'' is a colorfully orchestrated score of ample dimensions and dense, compact atmosphere, notable for its dynamism and vitality, revealing the influence of
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...
and at the same time returning to folkloric and popular elements, with dances such as the
sandunga,
tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...
,
huapango, and
foxtrot
The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a time ...
. Such nationalisms would appear through the 1930s, notably in the Second Symphony (the of 1935–36, one of the few works by Chávez to quote actual Native-American themes), but only sporadically in later compositions.
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
designed the sets and costumes for the ballet's premiere in Philadelphia in 1932.
Although this early period saw the creation of the Sonatina for violin and piano (1924), it was only in the 1930s that Chávez returned to another of the main musical interests of his maturity, prefigured in the juvenilia: the traditional genres of the
sonata
In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...
,
quartet
In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...
,
symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...
, and
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 ...
. He composed six numbered symphonies. The first, titled (1933), was reworked from incidental music for
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
's ''
Antigone
ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP).
History
ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...
'', an adaptation of
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
' tragedy. In it, Chávez sought to create an archaic ambiance through the use of modal polyphony, harmonies built on fourths and fifths, and a predominant use of wind instruments.
In the fourth of his Norton lectures of 1958–59, titled "Repetition in Music", he described a mode of composition already observable in many of his compositions since the 1920s, in which "The idea of repetition and variation can be replaced by the notion of constant rebirth, of true derivation: a stream that never comes back to its source; a stream in eternal development, like a spiral ..." A notable early example of this method is ''Soli I'' (1933), the first work acknowledged by the composer to have been consciously organized according to this principle. It only became a regular feature, however, beginning with ''Invención I'' for piano (1958), and subsequently in most of his instrumental compositions of the 1960s and 1970s: ''Invención II'' for string trio (1965), ''Invención III'' for harp (1967), ''Soli II'' for wind quintet (1961), ''Soli III'' for bassoon, trumpet, viola, timpani, and orchestra (1969), ''Soli IV'' for brass trio (1966), ''Cinco Caprichos'' for piano (1975), and the late orchestral works ''Resonancias'' (1964), ''Elatio'' (1967), ''Discovery'' (1969), ''Clio'' (1969), and ''Initium'' (1970–72).
Recordings
Chávez made more than a handful of recordings, conducting his own music as well as that of other composers. One of the earliest was made in the 1930s for
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
, containing Chávez's ''Sinfonía de Antígona'' and ''Sinfonía India'', together with his orchestration of
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; born Diderich Hansen Buxtehude, ; – 9 May 1707) was a Danish composer and organist of the Baroque music, Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...
's Chaconne in E minor: 4-disc 78-rpm set, Victor Red Seal M 503. The best-known of his discs was the
Everest Records stereophonic recording of his ''Sinfonía India'', ''Sinfonía de Antígona'', and ''
Sinfonía romántica'', in which Chávez conducted the Stadium Symphony Orchestra, the name given to the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
for its summer performances in the
Lewisohn Stadium
Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York (CCNY). It opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1973.
History
The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Conv ...
. The album was originally issued in 1959 by
Everest Records on LP SDBR 3029, and was reissued on CD in 1996 by Everest as EVC-9041, as well as at some point by
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label founded by Netherlands, Dutch electronics company Philips and in 1999 was absorbed into Netherlands, Dutch-United States, American music corporation Universal Music Group. It was founded as Philips Phonograph ...
. In 1963 Chávez conducted the
Vienna State Opera Orchestra in two recordings with pianist
Eugene List for
Westminster Records
Westminster Records was an American classical music record label, issuing original recordings until 1965. It was co–founded in 1949 by Mischa Naida (who later founded Musical Heritage Society), the owner of the Westminster Record Shop in New ...
, both released on LP: one of his own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Westminster WST 17030, reissued in 1976 as Westminster Gold WGS 8324) and one of the two piano concertos by
Edward MacDowell
Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites '' Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...
(ABC Westminster Gold WGS 8156).
In the 1950s he released two recordings on US
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
, on which he conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica de México. In 1951 a 10-inch mono LP was issued (Decca Gold Label DL 7512, reissued 1978 by
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...
on side 2 of 12-inch LP ), containing his Suite from ''
La hija de Cólquide'' (originally recorded in 1947 for the Mexican label Anfión and issued as a 3-disc 78 rpm set Anfión AM 4), and in 1956 Decca released an anthology, ''Music of Mexico'', on which he conducted three of his own works, plus
José Pablo Moncayo's ''Huapango'' (Decca Gold Label LP, DL9527).
He also made some recordings for
which were issued on 78-rpm discs and on LP (Columbia 4-disc 78-rpm set M 414, reissued 1949 on Columbia 10-inch LP, Columbia ML 2080 and Mexican Columbia DCL 98, reissued on Columbia 12-inch LP, LL 1015; CBS Masterworks 3-LP set 32 31 0001 (mono)/ 32 31 002 (stereo); CBC Masterworks LP 32 11 0064; Columbia LP M32685; Odyssey LP Y 31534). In 1961 he recorded
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
's ''
Peter and the Wolf
''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и волк, Pétya i volk, p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk) Op. 67, a "symphonic tale for children", is a Program music , programmatic musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a ...
'', with the Orquesta Sinfónica de México and
Carlos Pellicer, narrator, released on Mexican Columbia MC 1360.
List of works
See also
*
Grupo de los cuatro, formed in 1935:
Daniel Ayala Pérez,
Salvador Contreras,
Blas Galindo, and
José Pablo Moncayo; all influenced by Chávez
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Chávez, Carlos. 1937. ''Toward a New Music: Music and Electricity'', translated from the Spanish by
Herbert Weinstock, with eight illustrations by Antonio Ruíz. New York: W. W. Norton. Reprinted, New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. . First Spanish edition, as ''Hacia una nueva música: ensayo sobre música y electricidad''. México: El Colegio Nacional, 1992. .
* Chávez, Carlos. 1997– . ''Obras'', compiled and edited by Gloria Carmona. México: El Colegio Nacional. (set); (vol. 1: "Escritos periodísticos (1916–1939)").
* Miranda, Ricardo, and
Yael Bitrán (eds.). 2002. ''Diálogo de resplandores: Carlos Chávez y Silvestre Revueltas''. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA). .
* Saavedra, Leonora (ed.). 2015. ''Carlos Chávez and His World''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015. (cloth); .
External links
*
*
Carlos Chávez manuscriptsin th
Music Divisionof the
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Carlos
1899 births
1978 deaths
Musicians from Mexico City
Writers from Mexico City
Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico)
20th-century Mexican classical composers
Harvard University faculty
Mexican male conductors (music)
Mexican male classical composers
National Conservatory of Music of Mexico alumni
Academic staff of the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico
20th-century Mexican conductors (music)
20th-century Mexican male musicians
Burials at the Panteón de Dolores
Members of the Academia de Artes