Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (December 31, 1899 – October 5, 1940) was a Mexican classical music composer, a violinist, and conductor.

Life

Revueltas was born in Santiago Papasquiaro in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

, and studied at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and the

Chicago College of Music Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Lo ...

. He gave violin recitals and in 1929 was invited by

Carlos Chávez Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conducting, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influence ...

to become assistant conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, a post he held until 1935. He and Chávez did much to promote contemporary Mexican music. It was around this time that Revueltas began to compose in earnest. He began his first film score, ''Redes'', in 1934, a commission which resulted in Revueltas and Chávez falling out. Chávez had originally expected to write the score, but political changes led to him losing his job in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, which was behind the film project. Revueltas left Chávez's orchestra in 1935 to be the principal conductor of a newly created and short-lived rival orchestra, the '' Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional''. He was a member of the

Revueltas Sánchez Revueltas Sánchez is the surname of the children of ''Gregorio Revueltas Gutiérrez'' (1871-1923) and his wife ''Romana Sánchez Arias'' (1883-1939), a Mexico, Mexican artist family with roots in Durango. They had twelve children. The family lived ...

family, a number of whom were also famous and recognized in Mexico: his brother Fermín (1901–1935) and sister Consuelo (born before 1908, died before 1999) were painters, sister Rosaura (ca. 1909–1996) was an actress and dancer, and younger brother José Revueltas (1914–1976) was a noted writer. His nephew Román Revueltas Retes, son of José, is a violinist and conductor. SilvestreRevueltastombDoloresDF

In 1937 Revueltas went to Spain during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, as part of a tour organized by the leftist organization Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR); upon

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's victory, he returned to Mexico. He earned little, and fell into poverty and alcoholism. He died in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

(complicated by alcoholism), at the age of 40 on October 5, 1940, the day his ballet ''El renacuajo paseador'', written four years earlier, was premiered. In 1976, his remains were transferred to the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres in Mexico City.

Works

Revueltas wrote film music, chamber music, songs, and a number of other works. His best-known work is the 1960 arrangement by drawn from Revueltas' film score for the 1939 film '' La noche de los mayas'', although some dissenting opinions hold that the orchestral work ''

Sensemayá ''Sensemayá'' is a composition for orchestra by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, which is based on the poem of the same title by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. It is one of Revueltas's most famous compositions. Poem Guillén's poem ...

'' is better known. In any case, it is ''Sensemayá'' that is considered Revueltas's masterpiece. He appeared briefly as a bar piano player in the movie ''¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!'' ('' Let's Go with Pancho Villa'', Mexico, 1935), for which he composed the music. When shooting breaks out in the bar while he is playing "

La Cucaracha La Cucaracha (, "The Cockroach") is a popular folk song about a cockroach who cannot walk. The song's origins are Spanish, but it became popular in the 1910s during the Mexican Revolution. The modern song has been adapted using the Mexican genr ...

", he holds up a sign reading "Se suplica no tirarle al pianista" ("We beg you not to shoot at the pianist").

Music

Chamber works

*''El afilador'', 1924 *''Batik'', 1926 *''Four Little Pieces'' for two violins and cello, 1929 * String Quartet No. 1, 1930 * String Quartet No. 2, 1931 * String Quartet No. 3, 1931 *String Quartet No. 4, '' Música de feria'', 1932 *''Tres piezas'', for violin and piano, 1932 *''Tres pequeñas piezas serias'', for quintet of mixed winds, 1932–33 *''Ocho x radio'', 1933 *'' Planos'', 1934 *''

Homenaje a Federico García Lorca ' (Homage to Federico García Lorca) is a work for chamber orchestra by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. History On 19 August 1936, the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca was murdered by fascist militia forces. Outraged, along wit ...

'', 1936 *''Éste era un rey'' 1940 *''First Little Serious Piece'', for chamber ensemble, 1940 *''Second Little Serious Piece'', for chamber ensemble, 1940

Orchestral works

*''Pieza para orquesta'', 1929 *'' Cuauhnáhuac'', for string orchestra, 1931; revised for full orchestra, 1931; revised again for full orchestra 1932 *'' Esquinas'', 1931 (rev. 1933) *'' Ventanas'', 1931 *'' Alcancías'', 1932 *'' Colorines'', for chamber orchestra, 1932 *'' Janitzio'', 1933 (rev. 1936) *''Toccata (sin fuga)'', for violin and chamber orchestra 1933 *''Troka'', 1933 *''Caminos'', 1934 *'' Danza geométrica'' (orchestral version of ''Planos''), 1934 *''

'', 1938 *''Itinerarios'', 1938 *''Música para charlar'', 1938 (from the film score of ''Ferrocarriles de Baja California'')

Ballets

*''El renacuajo paseador'', 1936 *''La coronela'', 1939 (unfinished; orch. by Moncayo, arr. by Limantour; also completed by Blas Galindo and Candelario Huízar, lost)

Film scores

*'' Redes'', 1935 *'' ¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!'', 1936 *''El indio'', 1938 *''Ferrocarriles de Baja California'', 1938 **selections reworked as ''Música para charlar'' *''Bajo el signo de la muerte'', 1939 *'' La noche de los mayas'' (Night of the Mayas), 1939 *''¡Que viene mi marido!'', 1940

Songs

*''Duo para pato y canario'', voice and chamber orchestra, 1931 *"Ranas" (Frogs) and "El tecolote" (The Owl), voice and piano, 1931 *''Caminando'', 1937 *"Canto a una muchacha negra" (words: Langston Hughes), voice and piano 1938 *''Cinco canciones para niños y dos canciones profanas'', 1938–1939

Piano

*''Adagio'' *''Tragedia en forma de rábano (no es plagio)'' *''Allegro'' *''Canción'' (a passage used also in ''Cuauhnáhuac'')

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

*Avila, Jacqueline A. 2007."The Influence of the Cinematic in the Music of Silvestre Revueltas". DMA thesis. University of California (Riverside). * Barnard Baca, Roberto. 2008. "The String Quartets of Silvestre Revueltas." DMA diss. New York: CUNY GC. * Barnard Baca, Roberto. 2008. "Análisis de transformaciones en el cuarteto núm. 1 de Revueltas". Artículo. Guadalajara, Mexico * Dean, Jack Lee. 1992. "Silvestre Revueltas: A Discussion of the Background and Influences Affecting His Compositional Style". Ph.D thesis. University of Texas at Austin. * Espinosa, Sergio. 2001. "Silvestre Revuelta's Film for Redes". Ph.D. diss. University of Iowa. * Fanning, Richard. 2006. "The Rhetorical Use of the Trumpet in the Music of Silvestre Revueltas, An Introduction". DM document. Indiana University. * Garland, Peter. 1991. ''In Search of Silvestre Revueltas''. Essays 1978–1990. Soundings Press. * Hyslop, J. R. 1982. "An Analysis of Silvestre Revueltas's ''Sensemayá''". DMA thesis. Bloomington: University of Indiana. * Kaufman, Christopher. 1991. "''Sensemayá'': The Layer Procedures of Silvestre Revueltas". DMA thesis. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University. * Kolb Neuhaus, Roberto. 2006.
El vanguardismo de Silvestre Revueltas: una perspectiva semiótica
. DHA diss. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras,

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM) * Kolb Neuhaus, Roberto. 1998. ''Silvestre Revueltas. Catálogo de sus obras''. Coyoacán, D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Escuela Nacional de Música. *Kolb Neuhaus, Roberto. 2014.
''La noche de los mayas'': crónica de una performance de otredad exótica
. ''Trans'' (Revista Transcultural de Música), no. 18 (October). (accessed 16 July 2017). * Kolb Neuhaus, Roberto, and José Wolffer (eds.). 2007. ''Silvestre Revueltas: sonidos en rebelión''. México: UNAM, Escuela Nacional de Música. * Leclair, Charmaine Francoise. 1995. "The Solo and Chamber Music of Silvestre Revueltas." Ph.D. diss. Eugene: University of Oregon. * Mayer-Serra, Otto. 1941. "Silvestre Revueltas and Musical Nationalism in Mexico." ''

The Musical Quarterly ''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including C ...

'' 27:123–145. * Moreno Rivas, Yolanda. 1995. ''Rostros del Nacionalismo en la música mexicana: un ensayo de interpretación'', 2nd edition. éxico, D.F. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Escuela Nacional de Música. * Porrit, Peter. 1983. "Nationalism in Twentieth Century Mexican Music". DMA thesis. Berkeley: University of California. * Revueltas, Silvestre. 1989. ''Silvestre Revueltas por él mismo: apuntes autobiográficos, diarios, correspondencia y otros escritos de un gran músico'', compiled by Rosaura Revueltas. México, D.F.: Ediciones Era. * Sanchez-Gutierrez, Carlos Daniel. 1996. ¨The Cooked and the Raw: Syncretism in the Music of Silvestre Revueltas". Ph.D. thesis. Princeton: Princeton University. * Teibler-Vondrak, Antonia. 2011. ''Silvestre Revueltas: Musik für Bühne und Film. Wien: Böhlau Verlag. * Vondrak, Antonia. 2000. "Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940)". DMA thesis. University of Vienna. * Wilson-Spinalle, Katheleen L. 1983. "Selected Solo Songs of Carlos Chávez and Silvestre Revueltas. DMA thesis. University of Arizona. * Zohn-Muldoon, Ricardo. 1998. "The Song of the Snake: Silvestre Revueltas' ''Sensemayá''." '' Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana'' 19, no. 2 (Autumn): 133–159.

External links

Silvestre Revueltas web site
at

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

((UNAM)).
Foro Virtual Silvestre Revueltas
UNAM.

includes Revueltas' ''Musica de Feria'' (1932) performed by Del Sol Quartet
Silvestre Revueltas at ''Epdlp''

Peermusic classical : Composer Silvestre Revueltas
at www.peermusicclassical.com Silvestre Revueltas' web site at Peer Music Classical.

at www.wwnorton.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Revueltas, Silvestre 1899 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Mexican classical composers 20th-century Mexican conductors (music) 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Mexican male musicians Mexican male classical composers Mexican film score composers Mexican classical violinists Academic staff of the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico Ballet composers Mexican male film score composers Mexican male conductors (music) Male classical violinists Musicians from Durango National Conservatory of Music of Mexico alumni People from Santiago Papasquiaro Writers from Durango Alcohol-related deaths in Mexico Deaths from pneumonia in Mexico Burials at the Panteón de Dolores