José Pablo Moncayo

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José Pablo Moncayo (June 29, 1912–June 15, 1958) was a Mexican composer of nationalistic classical music.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Moncayo studied piano as a boy. He entered the Mexico City Conservatory where he continued his piano studies with Eduardo Hernández Moncada, harmony studies with Candelario Huízar and composition with Carlos Chávez. He also studied for a short time in 1942 with American composer Aaron Copland. One of Moncayo's first professional jobs was as a percussionist with the Mexican Symphony Orchestra (later renamed the National Symphony Orchestra (Mexico)), of which he became the conductor from 1949-1954.

As a member the "Grupo de los Cuatro" ("Group of Four"), formed in 1934, Moncayo—along with three other composers, Blas Galindo, Salvador Contreras, and Daniel Ayala—aimed to promote the nationalistic spirit of Mexican music. Much of his music used melodies, rhythms, and harmonies drawn from the folk music of Mexico.

Moncayo's best-known work continues to be his colorful orchestral fantasy Huapango (1941), but his production also includes many other pieces of a high quality, notwithstanding their lesser fame. Among these are his opera La Mulata de Córdoba (1948); Muros Verdes for piano solo (1951); his orchestral pieces Amatzinac for flute and string quartet (1935), a Symphony (1944), a Sinfonietta (1945), and Bosques (1954); the ballet Tierra de Temporal (1958) and the Homenaje a Cervantes for two oboes and string orchestra (1947).

He died in Mexico City.

[edit] Sources

Barce, Ramón. 1992. "José Pablo Moncayo." Ritmo, no. 631 (April): 44–45.
Miranda-Pérez, Ricardo. 1990. "Muros Verdes and the Creation of a New Musical Space." Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 11, No. 2 (Autumn): 281–85.
Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1945. Music of Latin America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.
Stevenson, Robert. 1952. Music in Mexico: A Historical Survey. New York: Crowell.
Torres-Chibras, Armando Ramon. 2002. "José Pablo Moncayo, Mexican Composer and Conductor: A Survey of His Life with a Historical Perspective of His Time." DMA diss., University of Missouri, Kansas City. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International. ISBN: 0-493-66937-X