Isabel Aretz (14 April 1909 – 2 June 2005) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

–

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

researcher, writer,

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

and composer.

Early years

Isabel Aretz-Thiele was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. She was educated at the National Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts, studying pedagogy, piano with Rafael González and harmony, counterpoint and composition with Althos Palma. She earned a doctorate in music from Catholic University of Argentina in 1968.

Career

After completing her initial studies, Aretz became a senior lecturer at the National Conservatory and began work as an ethnomusic researcher and composer. In 1937 her orchestral work ''Punto'' premiered at the Teatro Cervantes. In the next decade, she collected and recorded traditional music, traveling in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

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and

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. In 1947 she married Venezuelan musician and writer Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera. She was asked that same year to organize the music section of the Folklore Research Service established in Venezuela, and she continued her research on folk music there. The Escuela Nacional de Danzas de Argentina appointed her a professor of ethnomusicology in 1950. She was the first person at the school to hold the position. In 1966 she was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

to record native melodies in

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and Central America. Aretz-Thiele founded the American Institute of Ethnomusicology and Folklore (INIDEF) in Venezuela and chaired the institution from 1990 and 1995. She became a professor of ethnomusicology at the School of Arts, Central University of Venezuela, and at Indiana University in the United States. She was also a guest lecturer at other universities in Mexico and

. Aretz-Thiele published a number of journal articles and about twenty-five books on American folklore, plus an autobiography. After her husband died in 1992, she was appointed a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Argentina, and she returned to San Isidro to live and work until her death in June 2005. Murió en Argentina la investigadora Isabel Aretz

Awards and honors

*Order of Andrés Bello of the Government of Venezuela *Premio Nacional de Música "José Angel Lamas" *First Prize for Musicology by the National Endowment for the Arts *Emeritus, Argentina Academy of Music in 1999 *Master Teacher, Catholic University of Valparaiso in 2000 *Gabriela Mistral International Prize of Arts and Music, awarded by the Organization of American States (OAS), Washington, USA *Robert Stevenson International Musicological Award for research in ethnomusicology, Washington, USA

Works

Aretz-Thiele composed works for orchestra, symphonies, symphonic plays and choral works, and piano and harpsichord suites. Selected works include: *''Puneñas'', premiered at the Teatro Cervantes in Buenos Aires. *''Páramo'', ballet premiered at the Aula Magna of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. *''Jew's harp'', premiered at the International Festival of Mérida, Venezuela. *''Yekuana'', premiered at the Aula Magna of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. *''Argentina to death'', orchestra work after a poem by César Fernández Moreno, premiered at the Teatro Humboldt, Caracas. *''Kwaltaya'', ethnodrama premiered at the Teatro Municipal, Caracas, Venezuela. *''Constellation spectral'', symphony premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal. *''Father Liberator'', symphonic and choral work, premiered at the American Music Festival at the John F. Center Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. *''Cries of a city'' released in Concert Mark May, New York. *''Cosmos man'' works for piano and tape released in Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aretz, Isabel 1909 births 2005 deaths 20th-century classical composers Argentine music educators Argentine women music educators Argentine women classical composers Argentine classical composers Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery 20th-century women composers Argentine women composers 20th-century Argentine women educators 20th-century Argentine educators Argentine ethnomusicologists Women ethnomusicologists 20th-century Venezuelan classical composers Venezuelan women classical composers Venezuelan music educators Venezuelan women music educators