Jesús Castillo Monterroso (1877-1946) was a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

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 ...

. He is the older brother of composer Ricardo Castillo. He was the first musician to collect a sizable amount of Guatemalan

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, which he later used in works such as his

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 ...

''Quiché Vinak'', as well as

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

s and

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

s. His piano music, as well as his orchestral output, reflects the fusion of his contemporary art with Mayan

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

such as legends and myths from the ''Popol Vuh.'' The national youth orchestra of Guatemala, the Orquesta Sinfónica Jesús Castillo (established in 1997), was named in his honor.

References

* Dieter Lehnhoff. "Guatemala." ''Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana'', 10 vols., ed. Emilio Casares Rodicio. Madrid: Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, 2000, 6/1-11. * Dieter Lehnhoff. ''Creación musical en Guatemala''. Guatemala City: Editorial Galería Guatemala, 2005.

External links

* 1877 births 1946 deaths Guatemalan classical composers Guatemalan opera composers Male classical composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Guatemalan musicians {{NorthAm-composer-stub