Caprice for solo Viola- Julián Carrillo

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    Julián Carrillo (1875-1965) was a Mexican musician advanced to his time, he was born in Ahualulco, a little town in San Luis Potosí, a state of Mexico. He comes from a humble family, and started his musical studies first in the capital of the state and later in the National Conservatory of Music in 1895, he was an outstanding violinist during his years of studies and also studied composition; from 1899 to 1904 he moved to Europe where he studied in the Royal Conservatory of Music in the city of Gent. On his return to Mexico, he worked like a harmony teacher in the National Conservatory and arrived to be principal for a brief time. In 1914 due to the difficult social situation in Mexico for the revolution, he decided to move with his family to New York City where he worked as a violin teacher and conductor. In 1918 he came back to Mexico and was principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and professor of the National Conservatory, a few years later and for a second time he was principal of that Conservatory (Benjamin, 1982). In 1926 he returns to New York City with his family and stayed there for some years, working, composing, and diffusing their theories, some of his musical works were conducted by the famous Leopold Stokowsky and the Philadelphia Symphony. Maestro Carrillo died in Mexico City in 1965 at 90 years old due to cancer.

    His legacy is big, like theoric he wrote some books and treaties of harmony, counterpoint, canon and fugue, and about his theory of the Sound 13.  But, what was the Sound 13? Madrid (2015) mentions that it was a metaphor, due that western music is composed of twelve sounds that form the diatonic scale. The proposal of Carrillo is subdividing the semitone into quarters, eighths, and sixteenths of tone, that is microtonalism. With this new musical theory, he composed a big part of his music: works for solo instruments, string quartets, assembly for different instruments, and symphonic works (recommendation listen to Preludio a Colón).

    For the viola, Julian Carrillo wrote this Caprice, work with energy, using his system of quarters, eights, and sixteenths of tone, a virtuosic piece with techniques of pizz and cantabile parts. It is a work full of sensations for the listener with quiet parts to moments of euphoria. This is not the only one work that Carrillo wrote for the viola, he composed Four quasi sonatas for viola and the little piece Concurso (1908), this piece is not in his catalog but belongs to a series of works for various instruments, that he composed for the students of the conservatory, to be played in their final exam. Perhaps this is the first piece written in Mexico especially for the viola in the XX century, very nice to hear and belongs to the tonal works of the composer.

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I will be writing each Monday in English in this blog, see you soon! 

References:

Benjamin, G. (1982). Una deuda cultural saldada: la contribución de Julián Carrillo a la música del futuro. Revista Musical Chilena, 36(158), 61–71.

Madrid, A. (2015). In Search of Julián Carrillo and Sonido 13. Oxford Scholarship Online. 

https://sonido13.tripod.com/id5.html