My fellow Northern Colorado alumnus Sarah Hogan has given all the
information needed about the the Chavez piece Sinfonia India. If the
orchestration seems a little odd, well, Chavez was not much of a composer.
He was the only Mexican composer that I had ever heard of during my studies,
but arriving in Mexico I was surprised to learn that his music is almost
never played in Mexico, basically because it sucks. Revueltas is Mexico's
real gift to classical music. Chavez showed talent in his youth but ended up
as a burocrat in the national government and never wrote anything worthwhile
again. (No doubt he made lots of money.) His international reputation comes
from his relationships with people like Aaron Copeland. Copeland liked to
visit Mexico City, and Chavez would take him out on the town, inspiring
pieces like Copeland's Salon Mexico.
A few years ago, the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki conducted one of
our programs that included one of his own pieces. A Polish basoon player in
our orchestra made fun of him. "He is just a burocrat," he said. "He's the
Carlos Chavez of Poland."
Keith Eitzen
Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa, Mexico
Horn Instructor, Universidad Veracruzana
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