Blas Galindo

Blas Galindo Dimas (February 3, 1910 - April 19, 1993) was a Mexican composer.

Born in San Gabriel, Jalisco, Galindo studied intermittently from 1931 to 1944 at the National Conservatory in Mexico City, under Carlos Chávez, Candelario Huizar, José Rolón, and Manuel Rodríguez Vizcarra. In 1934, he formed the "Grupo de los cuatro" with fellow composers Daniel Ayala, Salvador Contreras, and José Pablo Moncayo, seeking to use indigenous Mexican musical materials in art-music compositions.

In 1941, he was an assistant at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, and studied under Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center in 1941-42. Returning to Mexico in 1942, he became a professor of composition at the National Conservatory and in 1947 was named Director of the conservatory (which he held until 1961) as well as director of the music department of the National Institute of Fine Arts. From 1960 to 1965, he was music director for the Symphony of the Mexican Institute of Social Security.

In 1947, Galindo was named Chief of the Department for the National Institute of Fine Arts. In September 1947, Chávez named him Director of the National Conservatory of Music, a title he maintained until 1961. Before this appointment he began as a student at the Conservatory, later becoming a professor of many subjects including “harmony, counterpoint, musical analysis, history of music and composition.” While at the Conservatory, Galindo also conducted the student orchestra, reformed the bylaws and built a new building. In August 1949, he judged the fourth Frederick Chopin piano competition in Poland. There he directed six concerts of Mexican music.

In 1952, he married Ernestina Mendoza Vega. He became Director of Artistic Activities for the Mexican Social Security Institute (I.M.S.S.) in 1955 and in 1959 I.M.S.S. named him Chief of the Music Section of the Department of Social Services. In 1960, he began conducting the Social Security Institute’s Symphony Orchestra. Galindo was a frequent attendee of music festivals and guest conductor of symphony orchestras. Also, he was a lecturer and editor of magazines, sometimes writing articles, concerning music.

In 1960, he was able to focus on composition when he was awarded a “fellowship from the Secretary of Public Education”. Galindo retired in 1965 and dedicated himself to his composition, writing some for pleasure and others for “commission”. To do this, he would frequently “retreat from Mexico City to a house in the country for weeks at a time in order to immerse himself fully.” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the opening of the new building at eh Conservatory, he directed the Conservatory orchestra and chorus in 1974. In July 1974, Galindo accompanied the President of Mexico with “a number of other intellectuals” to South America.

Galindo “constantly [fought] the problem of trying to have [his works] performed more than just once and the financial problems of having them published”. R.P. Conant wrote of Galindo, “He would, however, like to write an opera or even a cycle of operas dealing with the life of Mexico, the agitated life of Mexico from the Aztec leader Cuauhtémoc through the leaders of Mexican independence like Morelos, Juárez, Zapata, and Cardenas.”

Awards

“José Angel Lamas” prize from Secretary of Public Education; honor diploma from the Venezuelan Society of Authors and Composers; gold medal as “the best composer of the year”; diploma from the Municipality of Los Angeles, California; National Arts and Science Award for 1958-1964, presented by the President of the republic of Mexico, Adolfo Lopez Mateos

Works

Galindo's compositions number over 150, and include works in a variety of styles and ensemble forces.

;Orchestral
* 1940 "Sones de mariachi"
* 1951 "Suite for the ballet "La manda"
* 1952 "Scherzo mexicano" for string orchestra
* 1957 "Segunda Sinfonía"
* "Concierto" for flute and orchestra
* "Concierto", for violin and orchestra
* "Concierto", for cello and orchestra
* "Concierto Nº 2", for piano and orchestra
* "Homenaje a Cervantes", suite
* "Letanía erótica"
* "Nocturno", for orchestra
* "Obertura mexicana no. 2", for piano and orchestra
* "Poema de Neruda", for string orchestra
* "Sinfonía breve", voor strings
* "Concierto", for flute and band
* "Concierto", for guitar and band
* 1951 "La Manda", ballet

;Vocal works
* 1939 "Jicarita"
* 1939 "Mi querer pasaba el río"
* 1939 "Paloma blanca"
* 1946 "Cantata a la Patria", cantate based on the poem "Suave Patria" by Ramón López Velarde, for mixed choir and orchestra
* 1948 "Me Gusta Cuando Callas", after Pablo Neruda
* 1957 "Cantata Homenaje a Benito Juárez"
* "Dos Corazones" for mixed choir
* "Arrullo", for soloist and orchestra
* "Canciones de Jalisco"
* "Madre mía cuando muera", for soprano and orchestra
* "Segundo himno de Jalisco"

;Chamber music
* 1947 "Sonata", for clarinet and piano
* 1948 "Sonata", for cello and piano
* "Piano Quintet"
* "Suite", for violin and piano

;Solo piano
* 1935 "La lagartija"
* 1936 "Suite No. 2"
*# Impresión
*# Caricatura de vals
*# Jalisciense
* 1937 "Sombra, Preludio"
* 1937 "Preludio"
* 1938 "Llano alegre"
* 1939 "Danzarina", waltz
* 1941 "Fuga en do"
* 1944 "Allegro para una sonata"
* 1944 "Preludio"
* 1945 "Cinco preludios"
* 1945 "Y ella estaba triste, Preludio"
* 1952 "Siete piezas"
* 1964-1973 "Piezas infantiles"
* 1976 "Sonata"
* 1987 "Preludio No. VI"

;Guitar
* "Suplica de Amor"

;Film scores
* 1955 "Raices"

References

*Don Randel, "The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music". Harvard, 1996, p. 292.
*R.P. Conant, "The Vocal Music of Blas Galindo: a Study of the Choral and Solo Vocal Works of a Twentieth-Century Mexican Composer, (diss., U. of Texas at Austin, 1977)