Jacqueline Nova Sondag (1935–1975) was a Colombian musician, author and composer. She is often cited as having initiated Colombia's

electroacoustic music Electroacoustic music is a Music genre, genre of Western art music in which composers use recording technology and audio signal processing to manipulate the timbres of Acoustics, acoustic sounds in the creation of pieces of music. It originated a ...

al practices.

Life

Jacqueline Nova Sondag was born 6 January 1935, in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium. Her father was visiting Belgium from

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

, Colombia, to study to be an engineer, where he met Jacqueline's mother. Upon his finishing his studies, Nova's family moved back to

where she spent her childhood. In 1955 she moved to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

. Nova's mid-high social class in 20th century Colombia traditionally prescribed women learn to play either piano, guitar, or sing in order to be considered respectable ladies. Nova began learning piano when she was seven. In 1958 was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music National University for piano. She appeared in performances at the Conservatory as a soloist and accompanist. She studied under Fabio González Zuleta and with Blas Emilio Atehortua for contemporary music. In 1967 she was the first woman composer to graduate with a Masters from the conservatory. She then traveled to Buenos Aires on a scholarship from the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella for further studies in composition at Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios. There she studied with

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...

Alberto Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical music, 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography G ...

Gerardo Gandini Gerardo Gandini (Buenos Aires (Argentina), October 16, 1936 – Buenos Aires, March 22, 2013) was a pianist, composer, and music director, who became one of the most relevant figures of Argentine New Music of the second half of the 20th century. H ...

, Francisco Kröpfl, Francisco Zumaque and others. Nova died 13 June 1975 in Bogotá from bone cancer.

Work

After studying at CLAEM, Nova became interested in interdisciplinary experimentation with unaccompanied tape. Collaborations with other fields such as visual arts, theatre, and cinema led to a large amount of experimental and graphic elements in her scores. Here she composed her first electroacoustic composition, called '' Opposition-Fusion (1968)''. Nova's work has been played by orchestras such as the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, and the

Washington National Symphony Orchestra Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A m ...

at venues such as the Latin American Music Festival and the Third Annual Symposium of American Music in Virginia, USA. Her works have been performed in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, Spain,

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, United States,

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 ...

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 ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, France, Germany, and Austria. Nova's work has been issued through media including radio, books, periodicals, film, conferences and concerts. In 1970 she gave a lecture and concert for the Conference on Electronic Music at the Instituto Colombo-Alemán (Colombia-German Institute) as well as the V Music Festival in

Medellín Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...

. She wrote "The Wonderful World of Machinery" for the magazine ''Bogota Nova No. 4'' in 1966, and "Reasonable Orders Conscious and Unconscious" (1967) and "An Aberrant Phenomenon" (1969) for the newspaper ''El Espectador''. Between 1969 and 1970, Nova directed ''Asimetrías'', a Radiodifusora Nacional radio series which presented 22 sessions of new music works and analysis. In 1970 she established the New Music Group to perform works by living composers, with special emphasis on Latin America, but because of her health, the ensemble had limited engagements.

Awards and honors

*Festival de Música de Caracas Award for Chamber Orchestra 1966 for ''12 Mobile'' *Third prize in the Composition of the Colombian Institute of Culture 1977 for "Pitecanthropus" for symphony orchestra, voices and electronic sounds *Posthumous recognition from the Colombian Institute of Culture

Compositions

Nova composed for multiple genres including orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. She also wrote works for popular theater and film soundtracks including ''Machu Picchu'' and Francisco Norden's film '' The Guerrilla Priest Camilo''. She also composed for Son et lumière projects. Selected works include: *''Fantasy'' for piano *''Little Suite'' for string quartet *''Transitions'' for piano (1964-1965) *''Asymmetries'' for flute, cymbals, and tam-tams *''Opposition-Fusion'' for tape (1968) *''Echos I'' for piano and electronic sounds *''12 Mobile'' for symphony orchestra (1965) *''Metamorphosis III'' for symphony orchestra (1965) *''Music for Macbeth'' for chamber group *''Julius Caesar'' for theater *''Hiroshima'', oratorio, text by Dora Castellanos, for symphony orchestra, countertenor, contralto, 16 female voices, choir, and tape *''Omaggio a Catullus'' (''Homage to Catullus'') for spoken voices, piano, harmonium, percussion, and electronic sounds *''HK 70'' *''Creation of the Earth''

Performances and Recent Presentations

In 2019, the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston presented a
exhibition
around Nova's 1972 work ''Creación de la Tierra''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nova, Jacqueline 1935 births 1975 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century women composers Colombian composers Colombian women composers Women classical composers Women in electronic music