Set of five songs for voice and piano, comprising both entirely new compositions as well as new settings of existing melodies, written in 1943 by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera as his opus 10. The five songs are as follows: This page is about musical songs. ... A grand piano, with the lid up. ... Musical composition is: an original piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A musical composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance... Look up Melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (April 11, 1916 Buenos Aires - June 25, 1983 Geneva) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. ... Look up Opus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

1. Chacarera

2. Triste

3. Zamba

4. Arrorró

5. Gato

Historical Background

In Argentina, the militant revolutionary activity of the late 1930s and early 1940s solidified the power of politicians who, according to Aaron Copland, placed musical policy entirely in the hands of “a small group of conservative musicians” (Aaron Copland, “The Composers of South America,” Modern Music vol. 19 (February 1942) 77). During this period, Alberto Ginastera allied himself with Argentine intellectuals and artists in criticism of Juan Perón’s policies and signed a manifesto in defense of democratic principles and artistic freedom, for which the composer was eventually dismissed from his teaching positions at state-run institutions. In the midst of this unrest, echoing Bartók’s 1924 penning of Hungarian Folksong as “a declaration of war on the cultural policies of the Horthy regime” (Lajos Lesznai, Bartók (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1973) 120), Ginastera composed his opus 10 of 1943, Cinco canciones populares argentinas, or Five Popular Argentine Songs. The 1930s (years from 1930-1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The 1940s decade ran from 1940 to 1949. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music. ... Juan Domingo Perón (October 8, 1895 – July 1, 1974) was an Argentine soldier and politician, elected three times as President of Argentina and serving from 1946 to 1955 and from 1973 to 1974. ... A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. ... Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies, ultimately, with the citizenry. ... Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Admiral Horthy inspecting the German fleet with Adolf Hitler Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (Vitéz Nagybányai Horthy Miklós in Hungarian) (June 18, 1868–February 9, 1957) was a Hungarian Admiral and statesman and served as the Regent of Hungary from March 1, 1920 until October... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

Musical Influences and Style

In these songs, Ginastera draws from the Argentine cancionero popular, which catalogues the traditional songs and dances of each province and is used, in turn, to teach these to school children. While not all of the melodies of the opus 10 songs are of actual traditional folk origin, the tunes are, on the whole, more overtly Argentine than those of his other song sets composed during this period (Dos Canciones de Silvia Valdèz, Cantos del Tucumán, and Las Horas de una Estancia). The setting of such folk songs and folk poetry was not, of course, without precedent: Bach, Brahms, Mahler, de Falla, and Bartók are among the noteworthy examples of composers who had already drawn heavily on folk melodies and texts for their compositions for voice, and Copland was soon to follow. Like his forebears, Ginastera’s settings accentuate the local color of the original folk elements, with “highly ingratiating combinations of melodic simplicity, Latin folk rhythms, and twentieth century harmonic practices” (David Edward Wallace. “Alberto Ginastera: An Analysis of His Style and Technique of Composition.” Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, 1964: 86). In these pieces, Ginastera places virtuosic demands on the pianist while allowing the singer to convey emotion in an understated vocal line. A province is a territorial unit, almost always a country subdivision. ... San Miguel de Tucumán (usually referred to as simply Tucumán) is the largest city in northwestern Argentina, with a population (2001) of 525,853. ... In music, the BACH motif is the sequence of notes B flat, A, C, B natural. ... Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897) was a German composer of classical music. ... Mahler refers to: Alma Maria Mahler-Werfel, or Alma Maria Schindler-Mahler Anna Mahler Arthur Mahler, Austrian archeologist Bruce Mahler, actor David Mahler, composer Eduard Mahler, Austrian astronomer; born in Hungary Gustav Mahler, Bohemian-Austrian composer and conductor Halfdan T. Mahler, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) from... Manuel de Falla y Matheu (November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946) was a Spanish composer of classical music. ... Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... Copland was a project at Apple Computer to create an updated version of the Macintosh operating system. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds over time. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... In acoustics and telecommunication, the harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. ... It has been suggested that Freshman urban program be merged into this article or section. ... Pianist Claudio Arrau, Carnegie Hall, 1954. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ...

The Five Songs of Ginastera's Opus 10

1. Chacarera

The chacarera (from chacra, “farm”) is deeply rooted in the central pampas and the northern Argentine interior, with popular variations in Uruguay and Bolivia. It is a rapid dance in triple meter for one or two couples, which begins with the beating of the feet on the ground while the guitarist strums the introductory bars. Chacarera is a folk dance and music originated in the northwest of Argentina in the 19th century. ... The pampas (from Quechua for plain) are the fertile lowlands that extend across c. ... For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. ... A strum is the act of brushing ones fingers over (strumming) the strings of a string instrument such as a guitar. ...

There may be a link between the chacarera and the chaconne, which is described in The New Oxford Companion to Music as follows: "A dance in triple meter which originated in Latin America and was taken up as a form and variations in Spain and Italy in the early seventeenth century, in France soon after. The Latin American chacona had both instrumental and vocal accompaniment. The refrain was constructed upon one of a series of typical harmonic schemes (e.g. I-VI-IV-V; I-V-VI-V). Some composers used the same melody throughout the piece, repeating it in the manner of a ground bass." Many of these chaconne characteristics, such as a refrain in a “typical” harmonic scheme and an almost ostinato-like ground bass, are found in Ginastera’s “Chacarera.” It has been speculated that the chaconne and the chacarera had a common origin and parallel developments, now reunited appropriately in the neoclassicism of this composition. In music a chaconne is a musical form. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Composers are people who write music. ... In music, a ground bass is a bass part or bassline that repeats continually, as an ostinato, while the melody and possibly harmony over it change. ... A refrain (from the Old French refraindre to repeat, likely from Vulgar Latin refringere) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the chorus of a song. ... In music, an ostinato (derived from Italian: stubborn, compare English: obstinate) is a motif or phrase which is repeated over and over again at the same pitch [1]. Both ostinatos and ostinati are accepted English plural forms, albeit by different groups. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ...

This setting exhibits liberal use of hemiola, the result of alternation between 3/4 and 6/8 meters. The harmonization remains within the C major tonality of the repeating couplet, with dissonant embellishing and passing tones. Although Ginastera dedicated the five songs of opus 10 to the nationalistic Argentine composer Carlos Lopez Buchardo and his wife Brigida, the opening couplet of “Chacarera” (“A mì me gustan las ñatas y una ñata me ha tocado,” or “I like beautiful snub-nosed girls, and one of them has caught my eye”) suggests that Ginastera may also have had his new bride Mercedes de Toro (whose nickname was “Ñata”) in mind, perhaps composing these pieces as a wedding gift, following Schumann's precedent of composing his opus 25 song cycle, Myrthen, some scholars believe, as a gift to his bride, Clara Wieck. In modern musical parlance, a hemiola is a metrical pattern in which two bars in triple time (3/2 or 3/4 for example) are articulated as if they were three bars in duple time (2/2 or 2/4). ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... In international law, harmonisation refers to the process by which different states adopt the same laws. ... A one octave music scale in C major. ... Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a key center or tonic. ... A couplet is a pair of lines of verse that form a unit. ... In poetry, dissonance is the deliberate avoidance of patterns of repeated vowel sounds (see assonance). ... Schumann is the name of several notable people: Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), German composer (husband of composer Clara Schumann) Clara Wieck Schumann (1819 - 1896), German pianist and composer, (wife of composer Robert Schumann) Georg Schumann (1886 - 1945), German Communist and resistance fighter against the Nazis Georg Schumann (1866 - 1952), German... Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896), wife of composer Robert Schumann, was one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era as well as a composer. ...

2. Triste

While “triste” translated literally means “sad” or “sorrowful,” the title of this song is not an adjective but rather, like the rest of the opus 10 songs, an indication of the song or dance type: In this case, it is a nostalgic song of unrequited love. Originating in the Andean yaraví of the Kechua Indians, this song type appears in various modalities and under various names in the lyrical tradition of several South American nations, including Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Argentina (Francisco Curt Lange. Latin-American Art Music for the Piano by Twelve Contemporary Composers. (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 1942) xii). It was disseminated as the triste by the payadores in the pampa during the nineteenth century, and, though lacking a set form, is characterized by a slow guitar introduction, melodia-recitativo with sparse accompaniment (Diccionario de la Musica Labor, ed. Higinio Angles and Juaquín Pena, Barcelona (Editorial Labor, S.A., 1954) 2143), the use of lament sighs such as “Ah” or “Ay,” and a half-tone descent in the final two notes of its motif. The word Andean refers to the geographic area in and around the Andes Mountains of South America, and to the indigenous peoples that inhabit the area, such as the Inca. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Recitative, a form of composition often used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas (and occasionally in operettas and even musicals), is melodic speech set to music, or a descriptive narrative song in which the music follows the words. ... The musical interval of a half step, semitone, or minor second is the relationship between the leading tone and the first note (the root or tonic) in a major scale. ... In literature, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance. ...

In “Triste,” Ginastera adds to these characteristics a sense of improvisational abandon, accentuating the hopelessness in this traditional text. The melody combines diatonic and pentatonic elements, characteristic of Incan pentatonic scales, with the reiterated tone G and its embellishing quartal grace notes in the introduction serving to establish “the pentatonic flavor of the succeeding melody” (Wallace, 86). Some scholars suggest that the starkly minimal accompaniment reflects the bleakness of the text, shows the influence on the composer of Copland’s “lean, bony, open-air quality” (Ronald Crichton, “Ginastera’s Quartets,” Tempo vol 11 (December 1974) 34), and serves as a musical “imitation of the vast open spaces of the pampas . . . creating an image of the gauchos strumming their guitars in the wilderness” (Sergio de los Cobos, “Alberto Ginastera’s Three Piano Sonatas: A Reflection of the Composer and his Country” D.M.A. thesis, Rice University, 1991: 17). In Music theory, the diatonic major scale (also known as the Guido scale), from the Greek diatonikos or to stretch out, is a fundamental building block of the European-influenced musical tradition. ... In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ... For other meanings of Inca, see Inca (disambiguation). ... Look up G, g in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music or music theory, quartal is the quality of a chord made from fourths, and other things constructed from fourths, such as counterpoint. ... A grace note is a common term for a phenomenon of music notation used to denote several kinds of musical ornaments. ... This article describes the South American cattle herder. ... Lovett Hall William Marsh Rice University, commonly called Rice University and opened in 1912 as The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science and Art, is a private, comprehensive research university located in Houston, Texas near the Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. ...

Accordingly, Ginastera uses his signature guitar chord twice in this piece, a tied thirty second note ascending arpeggiation of E-A-D-G-B-E, representing the open strings of the gaucho’s guitar. This chord, with its intensely Argentine connotations, appears “like sherbet between courses, to cleanse the palate” (Alison Dalton, violinist, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, interview by editor of this article, 1996) throughout Ginastera’s career, in nearly all of the genres in which he composed. Though a similar harmonic resonance is achieved by playing nearly any series of four perfect fourths and a major third, the ubiquitous chord is most frequently spelled as above in Ginastera's compositions, regardless of the tonal center (or lack thereof) of the piece in which the chord appears. Consequently, if “Triste” is to be performed in transposition, the performers must consider the specific sonority of the E-A-D-G-B-E chord and whether it too should be transposed or left as written. Look up chord in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music, a thirty-second note (American) or demisemiquaver (British/Canadian) is a note played for one thirty-second the duration of a whole note, hence the name. ... Sherbet (in American English) is a frozen dessert made from iced sweetened fruit juice or puree. ... The palate is the roof of the mouth in humans and vertebrate animals. ... A violinist is an instrumentalist who plays the violin. ... The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the leading orchestras in the world. ... A genre is any of the traditional divisions of art forms from a single field of activity into various kinds according to criteria particular to that form. ... // In physics, resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with high amplitude when excited by energy at a certain frequency. ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ... A major third is the larger of two commonly occuring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees. ... In music transposition is moving a note or collection of notes (or pitches) up or down in pitch by a constant interval. ... A database query syntax error has occurred. ...

3. Zamba

With no relation to the Brazilian samba, the Argentine zamba is a graceful eighteenth century scarf dance of Peruvian origin. The vocal part is based in a repeated four-bar theme, with guitar introduction and postlude. With romantic, often melancholic lyrics sung in a lilting 6/8 meter, it remains “the obligatory dance at all rural fiestas” (Diccionario de la Musica Labor, 2305). Ginastera’s setting enhances the sway of the 6/8 meter with a syncopated accompanying pattern, and while the vocal melody maintains an F major tonality, the accompaniment alternates between F major and D minor in a manner characteristic of bimodal Argentine folk music. In some passages “there is considerable use of extended tertian and polytonal arpeggiation underneath the melodic line” (Wallace, 86). Samba is one of the most popular forms of music in Brazil. ... Zamba, creator-god of the Yanude people of the Cameroons, made the Earth and all its creatures except human beings. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Fiesta can mean: A festival or holiday. ... In music, syncopation is the stressing of a normally unstressed beat in a bar or the failure to sound a tone on an accented beat. ... F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B-flat, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature consists of one flat. ... D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B-flat, C♯, and D (harmonic minor scale). ... Bimodal can mean A bimodal distribution in statistics. ... In music or music theory, tertian is the quality of a chord constructed from thirds, and other things constructed from thirds such as counterpoint. ... The use of more than two keys simultaneously is known in music as polytonality. ...

4. Arrorró

The arrorró is “a traditional lullaby whose origin has been lost through the centuries” (Pola Suarez Urtubey. Alberto Ginastera. (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Culturales Argentinas, 1967) 21). Of these five songs, “Arrorró” is the only instance where Ginastera has left the text, rhythm, and melody of the source unaltered, just as Brahms and Bartók had done in many of their settings and Copland would do in several of his Old American Songs, including the lullaby “The Little Horses.” Ginastera sets this well-known Argentine lullaby in G major over a slow duple meter ostinato which, though centric to G as well, emphasizes dissonant auxiliary tones (Wallace, 86). Perhaps inspiration for the unobtrusive ostinato accompaniment came from de Falla’s lullaby “Nana” in his Siete canciones populares españolas of 1914-15, drawn from the Andalusian tradition. Whereas Ginastera’s lullaby is ABA with exact ostinati in the A sections, de Falla’s is twenty measures of rhythmically identical ostinato with only slight chromatic shifting. In the arpeggios of the B section of “Arrorró,” one sees the influence of Debussy’s piano music, comparable specifically to the left hand of “Beau Soir.” A lullaby is a soothing song sung to children before they go to sleep. ... G major is a major scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, F# and G. Its key signature consists of one sharp. ... Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... In music, an ostinato (derived from Italian: stubborn, compare English: obstinate) is a motif or phrase which is repeated over and over again at the same pitch [1]. Both ostinatos and ostinati are accepted English plural forms, albeit by different groups. ... Look up G, g in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In poetry, dissonance is the deliberate avoidance of patterns of repeated vowel sounds (see assonance). ... Andalusian Referring to Andalusia A type of horse: see Andalusian horse This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... In music, chromatic indicates the inclusion of notes not in the prevailing scale and is also used for those notes themselves (Shir-Cliff et al 1965, p. ... Claude Debussy Claude Achille Debussy (August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918), composer of impressionistic classical music. ...

5. Gato

The gato (or "cat dance") came to the early South American colonies as a descendant of the Spanish romanza, with several Iberian cousins such as the mis-mis and the perdíz. It was initially popular in Chile, Mexico, and Peru, but found its greatest prosperity in both the rural and urban areas of Argentina from the late eighteenth through the late nineteenth centuries. In the wake of the milonga (and its more famous urban descendant, the tango), it fell out of favor in the zones near Buenos Aires, but found new vitality in the northern Argentine provinces and Bolivia. The form is based on the choreography of the six-part dance for one or two split couples: Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it inhabited by the Iberians, speaking the Iberian language. ... Milonga is a South American form of music, as dance, as the term for the place where tango is danced. ... Look up tango in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... BUE redirects here. ... Choreography (literally dance-writing, also known as dance composition), is the art of making structures in which movement occurs, the term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. ...

1) guitar introduction

2) march with paso valseado, an exchange of triple-meter steps for each individual Metre is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ...

3) zapateo, a textless section of four or eight musical phrases during which the man stomps his boots in place while the woman struts around him. Zapateo (which literally means shoe tapping) is a flamenco-derived 2/4 folkloric tap dance characterized by precise and alternate rhythmical patterns of feet movements and stampings on the floor. ...

4) repetition of the march

5) repetition of the zapateo

6) the giro final, which is the couple’s spirited promenade around the dance area A Promenade is a seaside walkway constructed so that people can enjoy walking near the sea without getting their clothes wet and dirty. ...

Ginastera’s “Gato” is to a certain degree faithful to this traditional six-part form, offering a piano introduction followed by two sections of text, then an interlude (a repetition of the introduction) followed by two sections of text, with vigorous zapateo interludes between each section. An interlude (between play) is: Look up Interlude in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Both the vocal melody and the accompaniment are in C major, but Ginastera “adds dissonance and dislocates tones horizontally to lend a polytonal aura to the background, [and] in the instrumental interludes between vocal stanzas, there is a frank espousal of bitonality, similar to sections of the earlier Danzas Argentinas” (Wallace, 86). As with “Chacarera,” the words of “Gato,” though not entirely nonsensical, are more significant for their rhythm than for their meaning. A one octave music scale in C major. ... The use of more than two keys simultaneously is known in music as polytonality. ...

With the vocal part and the right hand of the rudo accompaniment in 6/8 and the left hand in a relentlessly driving 3/4, “Gato” (as with some passages of “Chacarera”) acquires the virile machismo of the malambo’s thrusting hemiolas. This is most evident in the zapateo interludes, in which the raw rhythmic intensity echos “Les Augures Printaniers / Danses des Adolescentes” in Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, which Ginastera cited as one of his earliest and most powerful musical influences. Ginastera recommends the use of a “non-legato touch, accenting lightly on the first beat of each measure” to best communicate the malambo’s motoric, energetic rhythm (Sister Mary Ann Hanley, CSJ. “The Compositions for Solo Piano by Alberto Ginastera.” D.M.A. thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1969: 21). In response to their premiere in Buenos Aires, “Gato” was hailed as “the highest achievement of the five songs...for its sheer dynamic impulse” (La Nación, 14 July 1944, in Urtubey, 105). The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian: Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский, Igor Fëdorovič Stravinskij) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer who first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned by the impresario Serge Diaghilev and performed by Diaghilevs Ballets Russes (Russian Ballet): LOiseau de feu (The Firebird) (1910), Petrushka (1911... The Rite of Spring is a ballet with music by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. ... In musical notation legato indicates that musical notes are played smoothly. ... The University of Cincinnati is a state university located in Cincinnati, Ohio. ...