Blas Galindo

Blas Galindo Dimas (February 3, 1910 – April 19, 1993) was a Mexican composer.

Biography

Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, under Carlos Chávez, Candelario Huizar, José Rolón, and Manuel Rodríguez Vizcarra. In 1934, he formed the Grupo de los cuatro with fellow composers Daniel Ayala, Salvador Contreras, and José Pablo Moncayo, seeking to use indigenous Mexican musical materials in art-music compositions.

In 1941, he was an assistant at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, and studied under Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center in 1941-42. Returning to Mexico in 1942, he became a professor of composition at the National Conservatory and in 1947 was named Director of the conservatory (which he held until 1961) as well as director of the music department of the National Institute of Fine Arts (Conant 1977, 95–96). From 1960 to 1965, he was music director for the Symphony of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Conant 1977, 97).

In 1947, Galindo was named Chief of the Department for the National Institute of Fine Arts. In September 1947, Chávez named him Director of the National Conservatory of Music, a title he maintained until 1961. Before this appointment he began as a student at the Conservatory, later becoming a professor of many subjects including "harmony, counterpoint, musical analysis, history of music and composition." While at the Conservatory, Galindo also conducted the student orchestra, reformed the bylaws and built a new building. In August 1949, he judged the fourth Frederick Chopin piano competition in Poland. There he directed six concerts of Mexican music.^{[citation needed]}

In 1952, he married Ernestina Mendoza Vega. He became Director of Artistic Activities for the Mexican Social Security Institute (I.M.S.S.) in 1955 and in 1959 I.M.S.S. named him Chief of the Music Section of the Department of Social Services. In 1960, he began conducting the Social Security Institute's Symphony Orchestra. Galindo was a frequent attendee of music festivals and guest conductor of symphony orchestras. Also, he was a lecturer and editor of magazines, sometimes writing articles, concerning music.^{[citation needed]}

In 1960, he was able to focus on composition when he was awarded a "fellowship from the Secretary of Public Education". Galindo retired in 1965 and dedicated himself to his composition, writing some for pleasure and others for "commission". To do this, he would frequently "retreat from Mexico City to a house in the country for weeks at a time in order to immerse himself fully." To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the new building at eh Conservatory, he directed the Conservatory orchestra and chorus in 1974. In July 1974, Galindo accompanied the President of Mexico with "a number of other intellectuals" to South America.^{[citation needed]}

Galindo "constantly [fought] the problem of trying to have [his works] performed more than just once and the financial problems of having them published". R.P. Conant wrote of Galindo, "He would, however, like to write an opera or even a cycle of operas dealing with the life of Mexico, the agitated life of Mexico from the Aztec leader Cuauhtémoc through the leaders of Mexican independence like Morelos, Juárez, Zapata, and Cardenas" (Conant 1977, ).

Awards

"José Angel Lamas" prize from Secretary of Public Education; honor diploma from the Venezuelan Society of Authors and Composers; gold medal as "the best composer of the year"; diploma from the Municipality of Los Angeles, California; National Arts and Science Award for 1958-1964, presented by the President of the republic of Mexico, Adolfo Lopez Mateos

Works

Galindo's compositions number over 150, and include works in a variety of styles and ensemble forces.

Orchestral

• 1940 Sones de mariachi
• 1951 Suite for the ballet "La manda"
• 1952 Scherzo mexicano for string orchestra
• 1957 Segunda Sinfonía
• Concierto for flute and orchestra
• Concierto, for violin and orchestra
• Concierto, for cello and orchestra
• Concierto Nº 2, for piano and orchestra
• Homenaje a Cervantes, suite
• Letanía erótica
• Nocturno, for orchestra
• Obertura mexicana no. 2, for piano and orchestra
• Poema de Neruda, for string orchestra
• Sinfonía breve, voor strings
• Concierto, for flute and band
• Concierto, for guitar and band
• 1951 La Manda, ballet

Vocal works

• 1939 Jicarita
• 1939 Mi querer pasaba el río
• 1939 Paloma blanca
• 1946 Cantata a la Patria, cantate based on the poem Suave Patria by Ramón López Velarde, for mixed choir and orchestra
• 1948 Me Gusta Cuando Callas, after Pablo Neruda
• 1957 Cantata Homenaje a Benito Juárez
• Dos Corazones for mixed choir
• Arrullo, for soloist and orchestra
• Canciones de Jalisco
• Madre mía cuando muera, for soprano and orchestra
• Segundo himno de Jalisco

Chamber music

• 1947 Sonata, for clarinet and piano
• 1948 Sonata, for cello and piano
• Piano Quintet
• Suite, for violin and piano

Solo piano

• 1935 La lagartija
• 1936 Suite No. 2
  1. Impresión
  2. Caricatura de vals
  3. Jalisciense
• 1937 Sombra, Preludio
• 1937 Preludio
• 1938 Llano alegre
• 1939 Danzarina, waltz
• 1941 Fuga en do
• 1944 Allegro para una sonata
• 1944 Preludio
• 1945 Cinco preludios
• 1945 Y ella estaba triste, Preludio
• 1952 Siete piezas
• 1964-1973 Piezas infantiles
• 1976 Sonata
• 1987 Preludio No. VI

Guitar

• Suplica de Amor

Film scores

• 1955 Raices

References

• Conant, Richard Paul. 1977. "The Vocal Music of Blas Galindo: a Study of the Choral and Solo Vocal Works of a Twentieth-Century Mexican Composer". DMA diss., University of Texas at Austin.
• Randel, Don. 1996. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard, p. 292.

Further reading

• Stevenson, Robert. 2001. "Galindo Dimas, Blas". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.