ABSTRACT the Present DMA Document
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ABSTRACT The present DMA Document explores the life and work of Costa Rican composer Mario Alfagüell (born 1948) over five chapters. Chapters one to three place the composer in a historical/cultural context and chapters four and five explore the compositional approaches of the composer. Chapter one presents a historical overview of music in Central America; chapter two presents the history of academic music in Costa Rica; chapter three presents the biography of the composer; chapter four describes his compositional techniques; and chapter five presents an analysis of three piano works. This document includes two appendixes. Appendix A presents an interview with the composer and appendix B shows the music scores used for the analyses in chapter five. THE MUSICAL STYLE OF MARIO ALFAGÜELL by JOSÉ PABLO QUESADA ROSALES Submitted to the Faculty Graduate Division College of Fine Arts-School of Music Texas Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE OF MUSICAL ARTS April, 2015 THE MUSICAL STYLE OF MARIO ALFAGÜELL DMA Document approved: ______________________________________________________________________ Dr. Tamás Ungár (Major Professor) Date ______________________________________________________________________ Dr. Stuart Cheney (Committee member) Date ______________________________________________________________________ Dr. Blaise Ferrandino (Committee member) Date ______________________________________________________________________ Prof. Harold Martina (Committee member) Date ______________________________________________________________________ Dr. Ken Richardson (Committee member) Date ______________________________________________________________________ Dr. H. Joseph Butler (Associate Dean) Date Copyright © 2003 by José Pablo Quesada Rosales All rights reserved iii To God, my wife, Won Yong Lee; and my son, José Daniel Quesada iv VITA José Pablo Quesada, pianist and pedagogue, is the Director of Operations for PianoTexas International Academy and Festival. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Piano Performance with cognate in Music Theory at Texas Christian University (TCU). Mr. Quesada combines his studies with a busy teaching schedule at TCU and National University of Costa Rica. The unusual beginning of his piano career has been a great surprise for many audiences starting his very first lessons at the age of 16. After earning his BM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy, he moved to Fort Worth to pursue a MM in Piano Performance with full scholarship with Dr. Tamas Ungar at TCU. Mr. Quesada is also an international active Concert Pianist. His debut with the Millennium Orchestra (Guatemala) performing Mozart’s D-minor Concerto, opened the door for many other future engagements with orchestras in Latin-America including: Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra (Venezuela), Venezuela National Philharmonic Orchestra, El Salvador National Symphony Orchestra, Funza Wind Symphony (Colombia), National University Symphony Orchestra (Costa Rica), Cartago Symphony Orchestra (Cost Rica), and Heredia Symphony Orchestra (Costa Rica). During his short artistic career, Quesada has performed numerous solo recitals and Master Classes in USA, Italy, France, Hungary, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic among others. He has been invited to perform twice at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and also has been an active interpreter of new music, performing and recording the world premiere of several compositions for piano and orchestra, piano solo and chamber music. Mr. Quesada has been awarded with several international piano competitions and awards such as the American Protégé International Strings and Piano Competition, Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, Piano Texas International Academy and Festival, PKL Honors Audition Competition, Piano Competition for Ibero-American Pianists, Schlern International Music Festival (Italy), F. Howard and Mary D. Walsh Graduate Piano Scholarship, and the Judith Solomon Award in Vocal Accompanying. v CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... xiii DISCOURSE ON THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE TOPIC ...................................... xvi CHAPTER ONE: MUSIC IN CENTRAL AMERICA: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW .................... 1 Indigenous Music in Central America ..................................................................................................... 1 African Music Influence in Central America .......................................................................................... 11 European Music Influence in Central America ....................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER TWO: ACADEMIC MUSIC IN COSTA RICA: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ......... 31 Music during the Early Nineteenth Century ........................................................................................... 31 Music during the Late Nineteenth Century ............................................................................................. 33 Music during the Early Twentieth Century ............................................................................................. 37 Music during the Late Twentieth Century .............................................................................................. 45 Music during the Twenty First Century .................................................................................................. 47 CHAPTER THREE: MARIO ALFAGÜELL: A BIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW .......................... 48 Early Life ................................................................................................................................................ 48 Studies at the University of Costa Rica ................................................................................................... 49 Studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (Freiburg, Germany) .................................................... 51 The Return to Costa Rica ........................................................................................................................ 53 The Fourth Period of Music Composition .............................................................................................. 54 The Fifth Period of Music Composition ................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER FOUR: THE COMPOSITIONAL APPROACHES OF MARIO ALFAGÜELL .......... 58 Genres and Instrumentation .................................................................................................................... 58 Indeterminacy in Music .......................................................................................................................... 61 The System of Numerical Series ............................................................................................................. 62 Scales ...................................................................................................................................................... 68 Musical Cryptography ............................................................................................................................ 70 Rhythm and Meter .................................................................................................................................. 76 Graphic Notation ..................................................................................................................................... 79 vi The Performance Stage ........................................................................................................................... 83 CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS OF THE MUSIC OF MARIO ALFAGÜELL .................................. 85 The Control of the Chromatic Aggregate ................................................................................................ 85 Estudio No. 17, Op. 143 .......................................................................................................................... 94 Arboleda, Op. 154 ................................................................................................................................. 100 Chacona para la Mano Derecha, Op. 260 ............................................................................................ 109 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 133 Further Studies ...................................................................................................................................... 136 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 138 APPENDIX A: AN INTERVIEW WITH MARIO ALFAGÜELL ................................................... 145 APPENDIX B: MUSIC SCORES OF MARIO ALFAGÜELL ......................................................... 157 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Musical Examples 1.1. Indian Bribri Song Transcribed by Mario Alfagüell ............................................................................