Alberto Ginastera

Alberto Ginastera was an Argentinean music composer born in 1916 to an Italian mother and Catalian father in Buenos Aires and died in 1983. He is a legendary classical music composer in the Latin America whose artistic skills cannot be matched with that of other artists of his time.

He is known for setting up a dance and music conservatory at Buenos Aires and forming an organization, the International Society for Contemporary music where he became its secretary general. He is also credited for his ability to integrate current music composing techniques into the old Argentinean folk music. This research paper is going to specifically focus on the life of Ginastera and will in-depth discuss about his career achievements and why he is popular.

Ginastera developed his interest in music at quite a tender age and achieved much while he was still a child for example, he entered the conservatory when he was twelve but this was not without some influence from other artists such as Schoenberg, Bartok and Stravinsky (Sadie 231).

He made significant artistic work that was capable of making him a winner of various awards such as the Argentine School Song Award, three municipal prizes, National Fund for the Arts Annual Award, Bicentennial Cinzano Award and the three municipal prizes. He composed all genres of music be it operas, orchestra, violin concerto, piano work, choir works among others something that made him a true representative of Argentinean musical nationalism.

In 1941, Ginastera was able to secure himself a job in Buenos Aires at the National Conservatory and the Liceo Militar. In 1942 he received funds to go to the United States from Guggenheim fellowship but his plan was impeded by the Second World War but nevertheless, he was able to produce a lot of great works like the Twelve American Preludes which was played in 1944 and another one which was a dedication to all those who perished in the fight for freedom called Elegiac Symphony that was played in 1944 (Way, Joseph).

In 1945, he entered into politics and together with other Argentine intellectuals signed a manifesto aimed at protecting human rights and democratic principles but because of his involvement in anti fascism politics, he was fired as the conservatory’s director in 1952.

After Peron regime was overthrown in 1955, he was reinstated as the director but resigned in 1958 to become a director of the Catholic University’s Facultad de Ciencias y Artes Musicale something that helped him to revisit the United States where he performed his second quartet in 1958 (Sadie 228)

One of his works to come to the public domain was known as the score for the ballet Panambi which was conducted by Juan Jose Castro and was a five movement orchestral suite that was first introduced in Buenos Aires on 27th November 1937. The second widely recognized and an award prize winning (Association Wagneriana) piece of work was the ballet with choreography produced in 1940s (Sadie 228).

In this piece of work, Ginastera tried to harmonize his primitive rhythm with modern technology something that skyrocketed his prominence long before he would graduate but the one that gave him an international recognition was the first Quartet which was played in Frankfurt’s International Society for Contemporary Music and the 1958’s outstanding work as a German critic termed it entitled the Second String Quartet that was performed in Washington DC by Juilliard Quartet (Sadie 227-229).

According to Elena Dabul, he classified his classical music into three categories that were determined by the use of the music he composed. The three categories were; Objective nationalism which was a period between 1934 and 1948 where he dealt with music concerning Argentinean cultures and produced works like the 1941’s wheat dance, the land workers and ballet Estancia which was all about Cattle ranch’s life. In making Estancia dances, Gisele Ben-Dor preferred the second thoughts expressed in Ginastera’s Panambi suites to Andrei Borejko’s Largo Label.

Her performances were different fro that of other artiste as they would last a minute longer. The other category was Subjective nationalism which started from 1948 to1958 where he detached himself from traditional popular elements and took no revolutionary moves or position. It is during this period that he produced his masterpiece, the first String Quartet where he would use rhythms to create folk-like songs.

The third and last category is the Neo-expressionism that is from 1958 all the way to1983 where he performed works like the second String Quartet which was done in 1958, the 1961’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, operas, Don Rodrigo and Bomarzo operas of 1967 (Compositores and Interpretes).

Ginastera in an interview in 1962 referred himself as a slow composer because he would take quite some time to think about his music before he would compose it, a period he referred to as gestation and the one according to him the moment which was the most trying is when it came to translate the intellectual ideas into something tangible which he likened to a child birth. Unfortunately, not all music that he composed was released to the public for example the Duke of Bormazo because of its provocative nature was banned.

The Argentinean president banned the opera on grounds that it portrayed sexual obsession however, the opera was reproduced in 1968 in New York. Contrary to the expectations of many, the same work would make him an international figure for example the opera Bormarzo (Sadie 229).

Alberto Ginastera an Argentinean music composer was a prominent figure in his days and was able to make music with a difference something that made him to be known internationally. He composed music of all genres thereby becoming a representative of Argentinean music nationalism. Though his music moved with times, not all of his recordings were made public as some were considered extreme and unfit for the public. Some of his work of art includes the Bomarzo operas, the Piano concertos and the First and the second string quartet.

Works cited:

Elena Dabul. Alberto Ginastero. Accessed at         http://members.tripod.com/~ostinato/ginas.html

Compositores and Interpretes. Alberto Ginastero. 2004. Accessed from http://www.ciweb.com.ar/Ginastera/index2.php

Sadie, Stanley Ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 7th Edition,   Macmillan Publishers Limited.1980.

Way, Joseph. Alberto Ginastero (1916-1983). Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes. 2000. Available at http://www.fuguemasters.com/ginaster.html