From Mexico, composer Carlos Chávez

Born in 1899 in Mexico City, composer Carlos Chávez and his family traveled all over their homeland during his childhood; in the process, he developed an interest in native Mexican cultures. He later became known for using traditional Mexican percussion instruments in his classical compositions.  

Chávez, who died in 1978, composed music throughout his entire adult life, but he had many other interests. He wrote several books about music and wrote many articles for a newspaper in Mexico City. He was the director of several prominent Mexican orchestras and held several different teaching positions. Chávez continued to travel internationally for most of his life, acting as an ambassador and advocate for Mexican symphonic music. 

Among his best-known works is his Symphony No. 2, also known as Sinfonía india. The Civic Orchestra of Chicago will perform the work in its concerts March 29-30, led by conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto.

In his program note for the work, Chávez wrote: "The indigenous music of Mexico is a reality of contemporary life. It is not, as might be thought, a relic to satisfy mere curiosity on the part of intellectuals, or to supply more or less important data for ethnography. The indigenous art of Mexico is, in our day, the only living manifestations of the race which makes up approximately four-fifths of the country’s racial stock.

"The essential characteristics of this indigenous music have been able to resist four centuries of contact with European musical expressions. That is, while it is certain that contact with European art has produced in Mexico a mestizo (mixed) art in constant evolution, this has not meant the disappearance of pure indigenous art. This fact is an index to its strength.

"The force of indigenous art is rooted in a series of essential conditions. It obeys a natural creative impulse of the individual toward an expression at once legitimate and free of affectation. In musical terms, the great expressive strength of indigenous art is rooted in its intrinsic variety, in the freedom and amplitude of its modes, and scales, in the richness of its instrumental and sound elements, and in the simplicity and purity of its instrumental and sound elements, and in the simplicity and purity of its melodies.

"There is never, in this music, a morbid or degenerate feeling, never a negative attitude toward other men or nature as a whole. The music of America’s immediate ancestors is the strong music of a man who constantly struggles and tries to dominate his surroundings. Imported manifestations opposed to the feeling of the music have been unable to destroy it because they have not succeeded in changing the ethical conditions of individuals."