Fernando González Casellas (October 15, 1925 – October 12, 1998) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

composer of classical music. A student of Jaume Pahissa, his early music was predominantly

atonal Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...

, although his later compositions explored other musical forms and genres. He was the winner of several composition prizes in his native country and abroad for his vocal and instrumental music which included an opera, '' Saverio el cruel'', and many works with religious or spiritual themes. Fernando González Casellas was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, where he studied composition with the exiled Catalan composer, Jaime Pahissa and

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. He died in Buenos Aires at the age of 73 while working on his second opera. González Casellas was married to the Argentine critic and author Ruth Mehl (1932 – 2010). The couple had two children, Fernando and Ximena.

Works

Fernando González Casellas composed 73 works, including:Works list based on Mehl (2001) ;Vocal – Instrumental *''Vocalise'' – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina *''Vidrieras del silencio'' (text by Juan Carlos Pellegrini) – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina *''Río'' – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina *''Agnus Dei'' – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina. *''Canción'' (text by Horacio E. Ratti) – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina *Cantata Nº 1 ''Días que son condena'' (text by Osvaldo Rossler) – premiered May 14, 1970, Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro *''Balada'' for violin,

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

, and chamber orchestra (text by

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the s ...

and the ''

Book of Lamentations The Book of Lamentations (, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ("Five Scroll ...

'') – composed 1972 *''Tres Sonetos de El Libro Fiel de Leopoldo Lugones'' (text by

Leopoldo Lugones Leopoldo Antonio Lugones Argüello (13 June 1874 – 18 February 1938) was an Argentine poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, historian, professor, translator, biographer, philologist, theologian, diplomat, politician and journalist. His poetic ...

) – premiered July 15, 1977, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, 1975 *''Tres cantos para el dolor'' (text by the Chinese poets,

Cai Wenji Cai Yan ( 178 – post 206; or 170–215; or died 249), courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was a daughter of Cai Yong. Her courtesy name was originall ...

and Xu Zhimo) – premiered April 8, 1981, Auditorio de Belgrano, Buenos Aires; awarded Second Prize, Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, 1983. ;Instrumental *Sonata for cello and piano – composed 1961; recorded by LRA Radio Nacional Argentina *''Tres piezas'' for piano – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969 *String Quartet No. 3 – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969 *''Siete invenciones para orquesta'' – premiered November 10, 1968,

Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón () is a historic opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acoustics expert Leo Beranek among leadin ...

, Buenos Aires *''Tres Evocaciones'' (in memory of María Inés, Juan Litwiller, and Fernanda Lidia) – premiered July 4, 1973,

Teatro Coliseo The Teatro Coliseo is a theatre in Retiro neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina which opened on July 8, 1905. History The Coliseum Theatre was opened in 1905 by the British clown Frank Brown, of great importance in the origins of the Creol ...

, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize in the Concurso Leonor Matilde H. de von Buch *''Secuencias móviles'' – premiered December 6, 1976, Instituto Goethe, Buenos Aires; awarded the Premio TRINAC (Tribuna Nacional de Compositores), 1979 * ''Nocturno'' for viola and orchestra ;Opera *'' Saverio el cruel'' – premiered December 7, 1996, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires

References

Sources

*Ficher, Miguel; Schleifer, Martha Furman; Furman, John M. (1996)
''Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary''
Scarecrow Press, p. 148. *Garff, Juan (May 19, 2010)
"Murió la decana de la escena infantil"
''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'' *''

'' (October 14, 1998)
"Falleció el compositor González Casellas"
*Mehl, Ruth (2001)
Catálogo de Obras: Fernando González Casellas
Instituto Nacional de Musicología "Carlos Vega".

External links

Fernando González Casellas"
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Casellas, Fernando 20th-century Argentine classical composers Argentine opera composers 1925 births 1998 deaths Composers from Buenos Aires Argentine male classical composers 20th-century Argentine male musicians University of Buenos Aires alumni