Sinfonía india

A black and white portrait of a middle aged man wearing a dark suit, glasses and looking down.
Portrait of Chávez by Carl van Vechten, taken the year after the premiere of the Sinfonía india

Sinfonía india is Carlos Chávez's Symphony No. 2, composed in 1935–36. In a single movement, its sections nevertheless follow the traditional pattern for a three-movement symphony. The title signifies the fact that the thematic material consists of three melodies originating from native-American tribes of northern Mexico. The symphony is Chávez's most popular composition.

History

The Sinfonía india was begun in December 1935, during the composer's first tour of the United States as a conductor, and finished early in the following year. It was premiered under Chávez's direction in a radio performance by the Columbia Broadcasting Orchestra on 23 January 1936, and given its first concert performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer on 10 April 1936. The Mexican premiere took place in the capital on 31 July 1936 (Slonimsky 1945, 234).

This symphony has become immensely popular, and so the primary source of the composer's identity with the public, comparable in this respect with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Ravel's Bolero (Parker 1983, 70).

In 1971 G. Schirmer, the publisher of the work, issued an arrangement for wind band by Frank Erickson. Although Chávez had not authorised this version, he did conduct it himself in performances, though with some revisions of his own (Parker 1983, 72).

Instrumentation

Aztec musicians playing teponaztli (foreground) and huéhuetl, both called for in the Sinfonía india

The symphony is scored for two piccolos (the second interchangeable with third flute), two flutes, three oboes, E♭ clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, percussion (four players), harp, and strings.

The percussion section originally included a large number of indigenous Mexican instruments, for example the jicara de agua (half of a gourd inverted and partly submerged in a basin of water, struck with sticks), güiro, cascabeles (a pellet rattle), tenabari (a string of butterfly cocoons), a pair of teponaxtles, tlapanhuéhuetl, and grijutian (string of deer hooves). When the score was published, the composer substituted their nearest equivalents in commonly used orchestral percussion, but requested that the originals be used wherever possible (Chávez 1950; García Morillo 1960, 91; Slonimsky 1945, 44, 216, 234).

Analysis

The symphony is based on three Indian melodies (hence the title), which supply the ideas for what are in effect three movements, though they are played without a break (Slonimsky 1945, 234). The composer regarded this as a condensation of the traditional three-movement variety of the symphony, in which a third theme takes on the function of a slow movement (Orbón 1987b, 84). This slow theme (starting at rehearsal-number 43 in the score) is supported by an austere succession of chords built from fourths (Orbón 1987b, 86). The three main themes are melodies from the Huicholes of Nayarit, the Yaquis of Sonora, and the Seris of Tiburón Island in Baja California, supplemented by secondary themes, some of which are also quoted from folklore (García Morillo 1960, 92–93).

Discography

In chronological order of recording.

References

Further reading

External links

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