Silvestre Revueltas

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Silvestre Revueltas

Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (born December 31, 1899 in Santiago Papasquiaro , Durango , † October 5, 1940 in Mexico City ) was a Mexican composer , violinist and conductor .

Life

Revueltas was the first child of the Revueltas Sánchez family and studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City , at St. Edward College in Austin (Texas) and at the College of Music in Chicago ( Illinois ). He gave violin concerts, organized the first contemporary music concerts in Mexico with Carlos Chávez in 1924/25, and in 1929 was invited by Chávez to take on the position of assistant conductor at the Orquesta Sinfónica de México ; he held this position until 1935. During this time, Revueltas himself began to compose seriously.

He later went to Spain and worked for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War , but after Franco's victory returned to Mexico as a teacher. He earned poorly, became impoverished, and became addicted to alcohol. Revueltas died in Mexico City on the same day that his ballet El renacuajo paseador , composed seven years earlier, was premiered. The cause of death was probably too much alcohol, with which he had celebrated the success of his work La Noche de los Mayas .

plant

Revueltas wrote film music , chamber music , songs and a number of other works. His orchestral works include a number of symphonic poems, of which Sensemayá (1938), based on a poem by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén , is best known, not least because of its use as a film score in " Sin City ". It describes a black ritual that ends with the death of a snake. His musical language is tonal, but often dissonant, full of vital rhythms and has an unmistakably Mexican touch.

List of works (still incomplete)

Orchestral works

  • Alcancías, 1932
  • Esquinas, 1930
  • Janitzio, 1933; Edited in 1936
  • Cuauhnáhuac, 1930 (for string orchestra); 1932 (for symphony orchestra)
  • Sensemayá, 1938
  • Redes, 1935
  • Caminos, 1934
  • Colorines, 1932
  • Danza Geometrica, 1934
  • Itinerarios, 1938
  • Mexican dance
  • Musica para Charlar, 1938
  • Noche de los Mayas, 1939 (film music)
  • Parian, 1932
  • Paisajes
  • Ranas, 1931, song
  • Renacuajo Paseador, 1933; 1936 as a ballet
  • Siete Canciones
  • Troka, 1933
  • Dúo para pato y canario for voice and small orchestra, 1931
  • Un canto de guerra para los frentes populares, 1938
  • Ventanas, 1931
  • La Coronela, 1940 (ballet; unfinished)
  • Toccata, 1933

Chamber music works, songs

  • Homenaje a Federico García Lorca, 1938
  • Tecolote, 1931 (song)
  • Batik, 1926
  • Dos Canciones
  • El Afilador for violin and piano, 1924
  • Tres piezas para violín y piano, 1932
  • No Sé Por Que Piensas Tú, 1937
  • Ocho por Radio, 1933
  • Four little pieces for string trio
  • Planos, 1934
  • String Quartet No. 1, 1930
  • String Quartet No. 2, 1931
  • String Quartet No. 3, 1931
  • String Quartet No. 4 Música de Feria, 1932
  • Tres Sonetos, 1939
  • Two little serious pieces, 1938

Others

Revueltas appears briefly as a bar pianist in the film ¡ Vámonos con Pancho Villa ! (Mexico, 1935), for whom he had also written the music. There he hangs a sign over the piano and says: Se suplica no tirarle al pianista (you are asked not to shoot the pianist).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Revueltas, Silvestre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Revueltas Sánchez, Silvestre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Santiago Papasquiaro , Durango
DATE OF DEATH October 5, 1940
Place of death Mexico city