Alberto Ginastera's Biography

Alberto Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1916. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and original South American composers of the 20th century. He began his musical education when he was very young. When he was 12 he entered the Williams Conservatory and later, in 1934 he got his first award from "El Unisono" Association. Many important awards followed throughout his life, such as "Argentine School Song" Award, four national prizes, three municipal prizes, Bicentennial Cinzano Award, National Fund for the Arts Annual Award, etc.

In 1942 Ginastera received a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation to visit the United States, but he postponed his trip until 1945. This trip was to highly influence his future works. When he returned to Buenos Aires he and other Argentine composers founded the Composers' League. He also founded the La Plata Music and Performing Arts Conservatory and the Latin American Center for Advanced Music Studies at the Di Tella Institute, in Buenos Aires.

Among his numerous academic activities, he was a Member of the Conseil Intemational de la Musique (UNESCO), Member of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Argentina, Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Honorary Member of the School of Music Sciences and Arts (Chile Nation al University), Member of the Chilean Composers Association, and Honorary Member of the Brazilian Music Academy.

He was the Dean and Honorary Professor at the School of Music Sciences and Arts (Argentine Catholic University), and Professor at the La Plata University. In 1968 Yale University awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Ginastera’s music can be grouped in three periods: "Objective Nationalism" (1934–1948), "Subjective Nationalism" (1948–1958), and "Neo-Expressionism" (1958–1983). Among other distinguishing features, these periods vary in their use of traditional Argentine musical elements. His Objective Nationalistic works often integrate Argentine folk themes in a straightforward fashion, while works in the later periods incorporated traditional elements in increasingly abstracted forms. His attractive output for piano skillfully combines folk Argentine rhythms and colors with modern composing techniques. Exhilarating rhythmic energy, captivating lyricism and hallucinatory atmosphere are some of the characteristics of his musical style.

Ginastera is the foremost representative of musical nationalism. His oeuvre covers all music genres. He composed three operas, five ballets, orchestra works, one harp concerto, two piano concertos, two cello concertos, one violin concerto, two choir works, cantatas, works for piano, voice, organ, flute, guitar, and chamber music. He also composed music for the theater and for eleven movies. His total repertoire contains fifty five works, but being perfectionist and meticulous as he was, many of them were withdrawn from his catalogue.

The progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer brought made Ginastera famous outside of modern classical music circles when they adapted the fourth movement of his first piano concerto and recorded it on their popular album Brain Salad Surgery under the title "Toccata." They recorded the piece not only with Ginastera's permission, but with his endorsement. In 1973, when they were recording the album, Keith Emerson met with Ginastera at his home in Switzerland and played a recording of his arrangement for him. Ginastera is reported to have said, "Diabolical”. Emerson misunderstood his meaning: Ginastera spoke almost no English and meant that their interpretation was frightening, which had been his intent when he wrote it; Emerson, being British, took it to mean "awful". Emerson was so upset that he was prepared to scrap the piece until Ginastera's wife intervened saying that he approved. Ginastera later said, "You have captured the essence of my music, and no one's ever done that before." Emerson would later go on to release an adaptation of Ginastera's Suite de Danzas Criollas entitled "Creole Dance". "Toccata" also gained fame as the theme to the New England cult TV show Creature Double Feature.
Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer, died on June 25, 1983.