Oscar Lorenzo Fernández (4 November 1897 – 27 August 1948) was a Brazilian composer of Spanish descent. He was born and died in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Life

Fernández studied at the Instituto Nacional de Música with Francisco Braga, Frederico Nascimento, and Henrique Oswald. In 1923, Nascimento was taken seriously ill, and Fernández was designated his temporary substitute in the chair of upper-level harmony, an appointment which became permanent two years later. In 1936 he founded the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música in Rio de Janeiro, which he directed until his death. From 1939 onward, he also served as Professor of Choral Singing at the Conservatório Nacional de Canto Orfeônico. In 1930 Fernández composed the three-movement suite ''Reisado do Pastoreio'', the last movement of which, "Batuque" (an Afro-Brazilian folk dance), became very popular. He composed a three-act

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 ...

, ''Malazarte'' (1931–33), to a libretto by José Pereira Graça Aranha, who adapted it from his own play of the same title. For the premiere at the Teatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro, 1941), the libretto was translated into Italian. ''Malazarte'' is a nationalist work in both its subject matter and its musical content, and is considered the first successful Brazilian opera of this type. He also composed one

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, two

symphonies 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 ...

, five

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, two orchestral suites, one concerto each for piano and for violin, chamber music, about 80 compositions for piano, choral music, and 36 songs.

References

* Baumann, Simpson de Brito Melo. 1998. "O nacionalismo musical nas três suítes brasileiras de Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez". In ''Anais do I Simpósio Latino-Americano de Musicologia'', edited by Elisabeth Seraphim Prosser and Paulo Castagna. Curitiba: Fundação Cultural. * Béhague, Gerard. 1979. ''Music in Latin America: An Introduction''. Prentice-Hall History of Music Series. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (cloth) (pbk.) * * 1897 births 1948 deaths 20th-century Brazilian classical composers 20th-century Brazilian musicians 20th-century Brazilian male musicians Brazilian male composers Brazilian opera composers Brazilian people of Spanish descent Ballet composers Brazilian male classical composers Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) {{Brazil-composer-stub