Symphony No. 5, also called ''Sinfonía para cuerdas'' (Symphony for Strings) is a composition for string orchestra by

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 ...

, composed in 1953.

History

The Fifth Symphony was commissioned on 24 September 1952 by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and was sketched in July and August 1953. Chávez composed all of it during the month of September, while he was living in Acapulco, completing the fair copy of the score the following month. The score is dedicated to the memory of

Serge Serge may refer to: *Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitchi ...

and Natalie Koussevitsky. It was premiered in

Royce Hall Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison (James Edward Allison, 1870–1955, and his brother David Clark Allison, 1881–1962) and completed ...

, Los Angeles, by the

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. LACO presents its Orchestral Series concerts at two venues, the Alex Theatre in Glendale and UCLA's Royce Hall. History James Arkatov, ...

, conducted by the composer, on either 1 December or 10 December 1953.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a conventional string orchestra of violins I and II, violas, cellos, and double basses.

Analysis

The Symphony is in three

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: #Allegro molto moderato #Molto lento #Allegro con brio In contrast to the Romantic character of the Fourth Symphony, Chávez here adopts a neoclassical orientation. This is especially pronounced in the last movement, whose contrapuntal textures lend it a decidedly baroque character. The first movement is in 12/8 time and in a sort of E minor tonality. The style of the movement resembles the opening of the Allegro of the Third Symphony, though of course without the powerful effect of a large orchestra.

Discography

* Carlos Chávez, ''Sinfonía No. 5'' for String Orchestra;

Paul Ben-Haim Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, ; 5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, Germany, he studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor to Bruno Walter and Hans Knapp ...

: Concerto for Strings, Op 40. The M-G-M String Orchestra;

Izler Solomon Izler Solomon (January 11, 1910 – December 6, 1987) was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest. Career Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Izler Solomon's first position as music director was from 1936 to 1941 with the Illino ...

, cond. LP recording (monaural). MGM E 3423. Los Angeles: MGM Records (a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.),

957 Year 957 ( CMLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * September 6 – Liudolf, the eldest son of King Otto I, dies of a violent fever near Pombia (it is rumored from a laten ...

* ''The Six Symphonies of Carlos Chávez ''. Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México; Carlos Chávez, cond. 3-LP set (stereo). CBS Masterworks 32 31 0002 (32 11 0020, 32 11 0022, 32 11 0024). New York: CBS, 1967. * ''The Six Symphonies of Carlos Chávez''.

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

;

Eduardo Mata Eduardo Mata (5 September 19424 January 1995) was a Mexican conductor and composer. Career Mata was born in Mexico City. He studied guitar privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he ...

, cond. 3-LP set (stereo). Vox Cum Laude 3D-VCL 9032. New York: Moss Music Group, 1983. Reissued on 2-CD set as ''Carlos Chávez: The Complete Symphonies''. VoxBox2 CDX 5061. Hauppauge, NY: Moss Music Group, 1992. *

Blas Galindo Blas Galindo Dimas (February 3, 1910 – April 19, 1993) was a Mexican composer. Biography Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, studying with Carlos Chávez ...

, ''Sones de Mariachi'';

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 ...

, ''

Sensemayá ''Sensemayá'' is a composition for orchestra by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, which is based on the poem of the same title by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. It is one of Revueltas's most famous compositions. Poem Guillén's poem ...

'';

José Pablo Moncayo José Pablo Moncayo García (June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958) was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationali ...

, ''Amatzinac''; Salvador Contreras, ''Corridos''; Carlos Chávez: Symphony No. 5. Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México; Coro Nacional de México; Enrique Arturo Diemecke, cond. Elena Durán, flute; María Luisa Tamez, soprano. CD recording, 1 sound disc: digital, stereo, 4¾ in. Sony Classical CDEC 471000. exico City Sony Music Entertainment Mexico, 1994.

References

Sources * *

* Copland, Aaron. 1967
Letter to Carlos Chávez (28 July)
"The Aaron Copland Collection ca. 1900–1990". The Library of Congress: American Memory website (Accessed 30 June 2012). * Orbón, Julián. 1987a. "Las sinfonías de Carlos Chávez." (part 1) ''Pauta: Cuadernos de teoría y crítica musical'' 6, no. 21 (January–March): 63–75. Reprinted as "Las sinfonías de Carlos Chávez" in: Julián Orbón. ''En la esencia de los estilos y otros ensayos'', foreword by Julio Estrada, 148–58. Madrid: Editorial Colibrí, 2000. . * Orbón, Julián. 1987b. "Las sinfonías de Carlos Chávez." (part 2). ''Pauta: Cuadernos de teoría y crítica musical'' 6, no. 22 (April–June): 81–91. * Orbón, Julián. 2015. "Carlos Chávez's Symphonies", translated, introduced, and annotated by Leonora Saavedra. In ''Carlos Chávez and His World'', edited by Leonora Saavedra, 62–75. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015. (cloth); . Translated from the Spanish liner notes for ''Chávez: The Complete Symphonies'',

(cond.). Peerless Records, 1982. * Parker, Robert L. 1983. ''Carlos Chávez, Mexico's Modern-Day Orpheus''. Twayne's Music Series. Boston: Twayne Publishers. . * Parker, Robert. 2001. "Chávez (y Ramírez), Carlos (Antonio de Padua)". ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan. * Rickards, Guy. 2013.
Chávez Symphonies 1–6
. ''

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

'' (9 January).

External links