Fernando González Casellas
Encyclopedia
Fernando González Casellas (October 15, 1925 – October 12, 1998) was an Argentine
composer of classical music. A student of Jaume Pahissa, his early music was predominantly atonal, although his later compositions explored other musical forms and genres. He was the winner of several composition prizes in his native country and abroad for his vocal and instrumental music which included an opera, Saverio el cruel, and many works with religious or spiritual themes.
Fernando González Casellas was born in Buenos Aires
, where he studied composition with the exiled Catalan
composer, Jaime Pahissa and classics
at the University of Buenos Aires
. He died in Buenos Aires at the age of 73 while working on his second opera. González Casellas was married to the Argentine critic and author Ruth Mehl (1932 – 2010). The couple had two children, Fernando and Ximena.
Vocal – Instrumental
Instrumental
Opera
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
composer of classical music. A student of Jaume Pahissa, his early music was predominantly atonal, although his later compositions explored other musical forms and genres. He was the winner of several composition prizes in his native country and abroad for his vocal and instrumental music which included an opera, Saverio el cruel, and many works with religious or spiritual themes.
Fernando González Casellas was born in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, where he studied composition with the exiled Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
composer, Jaime Pahissa and classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
. He died in Buenos Aires at the age of 73 while working on his second opera. González Casellas was married to the Argentine critic and author Ruth Mehl (1932 – 2010). The couple had two children, Fernando and Ximena.
Works
Fernando González Casellas composed 73 works, including:Vocal – Instrumental
- Vocalise – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional ArgentinaLRA Radio NacionalLRA Radio Nacional, also known as Radio Nacional Argentina, is the Argentine national radio, and part of the national public media system. It started transmitting in 1937 as LRA Radio del Estado changing its name to the current one in 1957...
- Vidrieras del silencio (text by Juan Carlos Pellegrini) – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
- Río – premiered December 10, 1957, LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
- Agnus Dei – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina.
- Canción (text by Horacio E. Ratti) – premiered October 28, 1958, Auditorio Birabén, Asociación de Jóvenes Compositores de la Argentina
- Cantata Nº 1 Días que son condena (text by Osvaldo Rossler) – premiered May 14, 1970, Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro
- Balada for violin, contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
, and chamber orchestra (text by Dietrich BonhoefferDietrich BonhoefferDietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...
and the Book of LamentationsBook of LamentationsThe Book of Lamentations ) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th Century BCE....
) – composed 1972 - Tres Sonetos de El Libro Fiel de Leopoldo Lugones (text by Leopoldo LugonesLeopoldo LugonesLeopoldo Lugones Argüello was an Argentine writer and journalist.-Early life:Born in Villa de María del Río Seco, a city in Córdoba Province, in Argentina's Catholic heartland, Lugones belonged to a family of landed gentry...
) – premiered July 15, 1977, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, 1975 - Tres cantos para el dolor (text by the Chinese poets, Cai WenjiCai WenjiCai Wenji , also known as Cai Yan, was a Han Dynasty poet and composer. She was the daughter of Cai Yong, also a musician. Her style name was originally Zhaoji, but it was changed to Wenji during the Jin Dynasty to avoid a naming conflict with Sima Zhao.She spent part of her life as a prisoner of...
and Xu ZhimoXu ZhimoXu Zhimo was an early 20th century Chinese poet. He was given the name of Zhangxu and the courtesy name of Yousen . He later changed his courtesy name to Zhimo ....
) – premiered April, 8 1981, Auditorio de Belgrano, Buenos Aires; awarded Second Prize, Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, 1983.
Instrumental
- Sonata for cello and piano – composed 1961; recorded by LRA Radio Nacional Argentina
- Tres piezas for piano – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969
- String Quartet No. 3 – awarded First Prize by the city of Buenos Aires, 1969
- Siete invenciones para orquesta – premiered November 10, 1968, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
- Tres Evocaciones (in memory of María Inés, Juan Litwiller, and Fernanda Lidia – premiered July 4, 1973, Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires; awarded First Prize in the Concurso Leonor Matilde H. de von Buch
- Secuencias móviles – premiered December 6, 1976, Instituto Goethe, Buenos Aires; awarded the Premio TRINAC (Tribuna Nacional de Compositores), 1979
- Nocturno for viola and orchestra
Opera
- Saverio el cruel – premiered December 7, 1996, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
Sources
- Ficher, Miguel; Schleifer, Martha Furman; Furman, John M. (1996). Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary. Scarecrow Press, p. 148. ISBN 0810831856
- Garff, Juan (May 19, 2010). "Murió la decana de la escena infantil". La NaciónLa NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
- La NaciónLa NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
(October 14, 1998). "Falleció el compositor González Casellas" - Mehl, Ruth (2001). Catálogo de Obras: Fernando González Casellas. Instituto Nacional de Musicología "Carlos Vega".
External links
- Fernando González Casellas" on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...