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, studying with Carlos Chávez (composition), Candelario Huizar, José Rolón, and Manuel Rodríguez Vizcarra (piano). 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 (Stevenson 2001).

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 and again in 1942, when his orchestral suite Arroyos was performed there (Stevenson 2001). Returning to Mexico in 1942, he became a professor of composition at the National Conservatory and in 1947 was named Director of the conservatory (a position 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 was invited to be an adjudicator at the fourth Chopin piano competition in Warsaw. During this visit to Europe he travelled to seven countries to officially inspect schools of music (Stevenson 2001).

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 the 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".^{[This quote needs a citation]} 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, ^{[page needed]}).

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
1942: Concerto No. 1, for piano and orchestra
1945: Nocturno, for orchestra
1951: La Manda, ballet
1951: Suite from the ballet La manda
1952: Scherzo mexicano for string orchestra
1956: Sinfonía breve, for strings
1957: Symphony No. 2
1960: Concerto, for flute and orchestra
1961: Concerto No. 2, for piano and orchestra
1961: Symphony No. 3
1962: Concerto, for violin and orchestra
1973: Concertino. for electric guitar and orchestra
1984: Concerto, for cello and orchestra
Homenaje a Cervantes, suite
Letanía erótica
Obertura mexicana no. 2, for piano and orchestra
Poema de Neruda, for string orchestra
Concerto, for flute and band
Concerto, for guitar and band

Vocal works

1939: Jicarita
1939: Mi querer pasaba el río
1939: Paloma blanca
1946: Cantata a la Patria, cantata based on the poem Suave Patria by Ramón López Velarde, for mixed choir and orchestra
1947: Two Songs, for voice and piano
1947: Three Songs, for voice and piano (Hoover 2010, 236; Stevenson 2001)
1948: Me Gusta Cuando Callas, after Pablo Neruda
1957: Cantata Homenaje a Benito Juárez
1965: Letania erótica para la paz, cantata on the poem by G. Álvarez
1975: Cinco canciones a la madre muerta, for voice and piano
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
1956: Sonata, for violin and piano
1961: Piano Quintet
1961: Suite, for violin and piano
1972: String Quartet

Solo piano

1935: La lagartija
1936: Suite No. 2
1. Impresión
2. Caricatura de vals
3. Jalisciense
1937: Sombra, Preludio
1937: Prelude
1938: Llano alegre
1939: Danzarina, waltz
1941: Fugue in C
1944: Allegro para una sonata
1944: Prelude
1945: Five Preludes
1945: Y ella estaba triste, Preludio
1952: Seven Pieces
1964-1973: Piezas infantiles
1976: Sonata
1987: Preludio No. 6

Cello

Sonata for unaccompanied cello

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^{[full citation needed]}, p. 292.
Hoover, Maya Frieman. 2010. "Appendix D: Suggested Repertoire". In A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano, edited by Maya Hoover, 235–37. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253221382.
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.