I am satisfied to have lived to the fullest as a musician and citizen. I enjoy inner happiness and face responsibilities toward myself and my country with the only means at my command: my music. - Antonio Estévez (1)Antonio J. Estévez Aponte (1916 - 1988) was a Venezuelan clarinetist, oboist, conductor and composer. He first studied in Caracas and Calabozo, and played oboe in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra. He further studied in the U.S. at Columbia University and Tanglewood, a.o. with Koussevitzky, Bernstein, and Copland and at Julliard with Dello Joio and Giannini. Later went to England and Paris. At the latter he studied electronic music with Pierre Schaeffer.
He founded the Central University of Venezuela's Chorus (1943) and the Studio de Fonología Musical in Caracas (1971) which he directed until 1979.
Estévez gained a thorough understanding of Venezuela's musical past from copying colonial music in the archives of the Escuela de Música y Declamación in Caracas. (2) His is a 20th century language greatly influenced by the indigenous, Spanish and African musical traditions of Venezuela.
He composed many choral works, especially for Venezuela's excellent youth choruses, some of which he was intimately involved with. These works are uniquely beautiful and make Estévez one of Venezuela's great nationalistic composers. We will explore these works in the next post.
Let's here sample some of Estévez's large-scale works for orchestra, the Cantata Criolla, and a charming collection of piano pieces for children.
Mediodia en el llano (Noon in the Prairie) (1942) for orchestra sets the atmosphere of the llanos, the grassy plains, perfectly.
Concierto para Orquesta (Concerto for Orchestra) (1949) in three movements: Tocatta, Passacaglia, and Ricercare, was written in honor of José Ángel Lamas, Venezuela's great classical composer.
Cantata Criolla. Florentino el que cantó con el Diablo (1954) set to text by Alberto Arvelo Torrealba is considered a nationalistic masterpiece. We witness a dark night in the menacing landscape of the prairie when Florentino, a 'llanero' or 'prairie man,' enters into a singing contest with the devil. In Part I the devil issues the challenge; the melodies are based on Gregorian chant--Ave Maris Stella for Florentino and Dies Irae for the devil. In Part II we have the actual singing contest which ends in the defeat of the devil and a celebration. YouTube features the entire cantata in three videos.
The first three pieces in the delightful piano collection 17 piezas infantiles (17 Children's Pieces) (1956) portray the three Venezuelan ancestral roots: Indian, Spanish, and African. They are followed by pieces about roosters and birds, a lullaby, etc. Enough to keep budding and accomplished pianists alike occupied.
Obertura Sesquicentenaria (Sesquicentennial Overture) (1962) was written for the 150th anniversary of Venezuela's Declaration of Independence.
Estévez composed Cromovibrafonía (1967), an ambient piece for magnetic tape, for his friend Jesús Soto's exhibition in the Venezuela Pavilion at the Montreal World’s Fair and in 1972. This piece shows the influence of time spent in Paris with Pierre Schaeffer.
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(1)"Antonio Estévez." LA Phil composer page. (http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/antonio-estevez (07/17/2016))
(2) Cristian Grases, "Nine Venezuelan Composers and a Catalogue of their Choral Works." Doctoral dissertation, University of Miami, FL, 4/28/2009, p. 180. (http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1214&context=oa_dissertations (07/17/2016))