An important thread running through this season of Momentos Musicales asks: How did music whose primary language is Spanish, or Portuguese, find its way to the United States? And vice versa, how did English-language music and I mean primarily music of early to mid-20th century America, find itself on turntables and radios throughout Latin America? Is this sheet music blowing in the wind, or is it carried across borders on the fingertips of a pianist or guitarist, on the vocal chords of singers? The answer can be complex, but thank goodness music requires no passport to get from here to there. One of the most amazing avenues for music to travel, both today and yesterday, is through the radio.
Today, the focus is on Silvestre Revueltas, whom your grandparents in San Antonio may have known as a next door neighbor. But more about that in a moment. First, let's hear Revueltas on your radio.
Music with the enigmatic title "Ocho X Radio," written in 1933, intends nothing very profound. "Ocho X Radio" meant simply, “eight minutes of radio music.”
Revueltas brought his talent and his music across the border into the land of English speakers before he had studied music in Mexico. He studied music at St. Edward's in Austin, and travelled then to Chicago for further studies in composition and violin. With his fiddle and a bundle of staff paper, he spent a year or so in San Antonio as concertmaster and sometime conductor of the pit orchestra at the Aztec Theatre. There's a footnote here I can't resist. The house where Revueltas lived, at 317 Wickes St. in San Antonio's King William District, is up for sale. Any takers?
Revueltas's focus while in San Antonio was primarily on the violin. However, we do know that he wrote at least one new piece of music while in San Antonio, that being titled "Batik."
The American composer Aaron Copland commended Revueltas's music for its gaiety, and its wistfulness. Copland said Revueltas's flavor reminded him of highly spiced Mexican food.
But there is also a tender side to Revueltas. Musicologist Robert Stevenson writes that Revueltas's "Cancion de Cuna," with text by the famous Spanish poet, Garcia Lorca, breathes peace, serenity, and through its tears speaks of profound things.
There's no shortage of great music from Revueltas, yet his "Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca" remains in my book one of his most powerful works. The combination of grief, humor, dance and celebration, central to the work, reflects the Mexican attitude toward death, with mourning gradually becoming a celebration of life.
We are fortunate to have the music of Revueltas. Please take a bit of time to get better acquainted with him and don't forget, his home in King William is still available for walk-throughs!
This year's edition of Momentos Musicales is made possible by a generous grant from the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation.
