Carlos Chávez

Carlos Chávez

Works for Cello

Madrigal (1921), for cello and piano.

Sonatina (1924), for cello and piano.

Concierto (1975), for cello and orchestra.

Works for Viola

Madrigal (1921), for viola and piano.

Sources:

  • Furman Schleifer, M., and Galván, G. (2016). Latin American Classical Composers, A Biographical Dictionary. London: Rowman & Littlefield.

  • Parker, R. (2001). Chávez (y Ramírez), Carlos. In Grove Music Online. Grove Music. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.05495

Carlos Chávez

Mexican composer, pianist, conductor, educator and writer, born June 13, 1899, died August 2, 1978.

Born in Mexico City, Carlos Chávez started learning piano from his older brother Manuel. Later, he studied with Asunción Parra, Manuel Ponce (1910-14), and Pedro Luis Ozagón (1915-20). While Chávez did not have formal composition training outside of his harmony lessons with Juan Fuentes, he received a significant education through his self-directed analysis of the composer’s before him and from his regular contact with Mexican Indian culture.

Chávez’s family traveled regularly to the region of Tlaxcala for vacations; this formative experience combined with later trips to Puebla, Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacán, Guanajuato and Oaxaca proved to influence not only on Chávez’s early compositions, but also the ideas and values he developed throughout his professional life.

The end of the Mexican Revolution in 1921 coincided with Chávez’s coming of age and debut as a composer. During this political shift, the government became the chief patron of the arts and placed emphasis on indigenous cultures; with his two ballets that celebrated Mexico’s pre-Hispanic heritage, El fuego nuevo and Los cuatro soles, Chávez established himself as the first composer to enunciate this new wave of nationalism.

Throughout Chávez’s career he held many important government positions in the arts in Mexico, composed more than 200 musical works, conducted throughout the USA, Latin America and Europe, and wrote extensively about music.

Chávez was an incredibly influential teacher. While director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música (1928-1934), he fundamentally changed the curriculum by placing importance on both the study of indigenous music and the creative exploration of new music ideas. Chávez’s legacy as a teacher can also be seen in his four students known as ‘Los Cuatro’ (Daniel Ayala Pérez, Blas Galindo Dimas, Salvador Contreras, and José Pablo Moncayo García), as they all individually achieved great success as composers.