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Carlos Guastavino: A Re-evaluation of His Harmonic Language

2006; University of Texas Press; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/lat.2007.0005

1536-0199

Jonathan Kulp,

Diverse Musicological Studies

Carlos Guastavino:A Re-evaluation of His Harmonic Language1 Jonathan Kulp (bio) ¡Viva el atonalismo! ¡Viva la dodecafonía! ¡Viva la música concreta! Eso es una porquería…son bodrios, son mentiras, son falsedades, son…La música, la música auténtica es armonía, melodía, y ritmo, perfectamente to-na-les. Es la única forma de hacer música. Carlos Guastavino2 Carlos Guastavino (1912–2000) needs no introduction within his native Argentina, as he is one of the most beloved figures in the history of Argentine art music. In North America, however, he is hardly known at all except to singers specializing in Latin American art songs, or perhaps to musicians with a particular interest in the music of Argentina. For most people in North America, the composer most commonly associated with Argentina is still Alberto Ginastera (1916–83), with Astor Piazzolla (1921–92) coming in a close second. Guastavino and Ginastera differed markedly in personality and in musical style; their relative positions in musical society within Argentina and internationally are direct reflections of these differences.3 Ginastera gained international fame through his cultivation of large-scale genres—ballet, opera, symphonic works—and his extrovert personality led him to participate in organizations that promoted new music in Argentina and elsewhere. Although some of his works have nationalist elements, Ginastera also wrote many works in an abstract, modernist style that endeared him to composers and critics abroad but alienated some listeners at home. Guastavino, on the other hand, was introverted and shy, and the composer led a modest, private life. He wrote a handful of works for large ensembles, but the overwhelming majority of his music is in smaller genres of song, character pieces, and chamber music.4 His large-scale works are mostly unknown. The score for his only ballet Fue una vez (1942) is lost, and the other orchestral works, Romance de Santa Fe (1952, for piano [End Page 196] 196 orchestra) and Romance de Colastiné (1958, orchestra), are unpublished. The cantata Despedida (1973, for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra) is published by Lagos but has not been recorded. His most popular piano works are character pieces Bailecito and Gato (both from 1940), but his most substantial works for the instrument are the Sonata in C# minor (1947) and Diez cantilenas argentinas (1953–58). Other noteworthy instrumental works include Romance del Plata (1987, sonatina for piano four-hands), Jeromita Linares (1965, guitar and string quartet), three guitar sonatas (1967–73), a clarinet sonata (1970), and Introducción y allegro (1972–73, flute and piano). Guastavino is generally seen as a nationalist composer, but his output includes many works with no nationalist elements whatsoever (Se equivocó la paloma [1941] and La rosa y el sauce [1942] are not nationalist works, for example). Although he was often criticized for being old-fashioned by other composers and by the press, Guastavino enjoyed enormous success with the public and with performers. He was able to live on royalties from his scores and licensing fees paid to him by SADAIC, the performing rights organization of Argentina. Furthermore, in recent years there have been dozens of new commercial recordings of his works, many of them made by performers outside of Argentina. Guastavino and Tonality In the epigraph for this article, Guastavino states in rather forceful terms his opposition to anything but tonality as the basis for musical composition. A statement as this one could have been made in a heated moment, or perhaps in jest, where it could be taken out of context and its intention distorted. Guastavino had voiced these opinions before, however. As shy and self-deprecating as he was, Guastavino never failed to express his opinions on music to anyone who asked him. According to choral conductor Carlos Vilo, who has specialized in the performance of Guastavino's music since the late 1980s, "he always says what he thinks, and so it's a serious problem."5 When asked whether he were concerned with being a modern composer ("compositor actual") in the 1968 interview with La Prensa, he said modern music was "still-born" and "antimusic." He further stated that "none of [Argentina's] vanguard composers...