Eduardo Hernández Moncada (September 24, 1899 – December 31, 1995) was a Mexican composer, pianist, and conductor. He is one of the essential musicians representative of the Nationalist Movement of the Post-Revolutionary years in Mexico. His music strives for a balance between modern influence and folk roots. His compositions include orchestral music, opera, ballet and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Biography

Born in

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In 2020 census the city reported a population of 443,063 ...

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

, son of a clarinetist. Hernández Moncada started piano lessons at an early age and at 19 moved to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

to enter the National Conservatory. While still in school, he was hired to provide piano accompaniment to silent films playing at a local movie theater. In 1925 he married Teresa de Anda, an opera singer. While working in the movie theater, he met

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conducting, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influence ...

, and they began a long friendship. In 1929, Chávez invited Hernández to join the Mexican Symphony Orchestra as pianist, at the same time

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

became assistant conductor. When Revueltas left the orchestra to form his own National Symphony Orchestra in 1936, Hernández succeeded him as assistant to Chávez. He served as a Director to the Conservatory

Choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

and Director and Founder of the Opera Academy. He was received an

Ariel Award The Ariel Award () is an award that recognizes the best of Mexican cinema. Given annually, since 1946, by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas, Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC), the award reco ...

for the score to the movie ''Deseada'' (1951). Hernández Moncada was also a teacher and was appointed Principal to the National School of Music. He published several texts including an autobiography and bibliographical sketches of his friends Carlos Chávez and Silvestre Revueltas. He was highly regarded by his peers, including artists like Dimitris Mitropoulos, who conducted his First

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 ...

Selected works

Piano *''Prelude'' (1926) *''Album of the Heart'' (1934) *''Costena'' (1962) Duos *''Romanza'' for cello and piano (1949) *''Rhapsody of Sotavento'' for violin and piano (1974)

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 ...

*''Suite Romántica'' (1937) *Suite of Dances (1939) *String Quartet (1962) Orchestra *''Funerary March'' (1938) *Symphony Number 1 (1942) *Symphony Number 2 (1943) *''Guelatao'' (1957) Choral Music *''Poems by

Omar Khayyám Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) ( Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar Khayyam (), was ...

'' (1932) *''Costena Song'' (1958) *''Give Me Moon Papyrus'' (1958) *''Three Sonnets of Sor Juana'' (1979) Opera *''Elena'' (1948) Ballets *''Endless Voyage'' (1949) *''Ermesinda'' (1952) *''Maíz'' (1952)

Film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

*''Enamorada'' (1946) *''El Desquite'' (1947) *''Si me viera Don Porfirio'' (1950) *''Deseada'' (1951)

References

* Contreras Soto, Eduardo. 1993. ''Eduardo Hernández Moncada. Ensayo biográfico, catálogo de obras y antología de textos''. México, D. F.: Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información Musical "Carlos Chávez".

External links

* Herrera, Jesús.
Eduardo Hernández Moncada
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez Moncada, Eduardo 1899 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Mexican classical composers People from Xalapa Musicians from Veracruz Mexican male classical composers Academic staff of the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico 20th-century Mexican male musicians