Sinfonía india

The Sinfonía india was begun in December 1935, during the composer's first tour of the United States as a conductor, and finished early in the following year. It was premiered under Chávez's direction in a radio performance by the Columbia Broadcasting Orchestra on 23 January 1936, and given its first concert performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer on 10 April 1936. The Mexican premiere took place in the capital on 31 July 1936.[1]

This symphony has become immensely popular, and so the primary source of the composer's identity with the public, comparable in this respect with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Ravel's Bolero.[2]

In 1971 G. Schirmer, the publisher of the work, issued an arrangement for wind band by Frank Erickson. Although Chávez had not authorised this version, he did conduct it himself in performances, though with some revisions of his own.[3]

Aztec musicians playing teponaztli (foreground) and huéhuetl, both called for in the Sinfonía india

The symphony is scored for two piccolos (the second interchangeable with third flute), two flutes, three oboes, E♭ clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, percussion (four players), harp, and strings.

The percussion section originally included a large number of indigenous Mexican instruments, for example the jicara de agua (half of a gourd inverted and partly submerged in a basin of water, struck with sticks), güiro, cascabeles (a pellet rattle), tenabari (a string of butterfly cocoons), a pair of teponaxtles, tlapanhuéhuetl, and grijutian (string of deer hooves). When the score was published, the composer substituted their nearest equivalents in commonly used orchestral percussion, but requested that the originals be used wherever possible.[4][5][6]

The symphony is based on three Indian melodies (hence the title), which supply the ideas for what are in effect three movements, though they are played without a break.[1] The composer regarded this as a condensation of the traditional three-movement variety of the symphony, in which a third theme takes on the function of a slow movement.[7] This slow, third theme (starting at rehearsal-number 43 in the score) is supported by an austere succession of chords built from fourths.[8] The three main themes are melodies from the Huicholes (or Cora) of Nayarit (the principal theme, beginning at rehearsal number 9), the Yaqui of Sonora (the second and third themes, beginning at rehearsal-numbers 27 and 43, respectively), and the Seris of Tiburón Island in Baja California (theme of the finale, beginning at rehearsal-number 88), supplemented by secondary themes, some of which are also quoted from folklore.[9]

Introduction theme A

Introduction theme B (trumpet)

Introduction theme C

First theme (oboes, 1st violins)

Second theme (E♭ clarinet solo, B♭ clarinets, tenor drum)

Third (slow) theme (horn and flute, over muted trumpets and trombone)

Finale theme (E♭ clarinet, muted trumpet, and güiro)

In chronological order of recording.

Sources

• Chávez, Carlos. 1950. Sinfonía india. G. Schirmer's Edition of Study Scores of Orchestral Works and Chamber Music, no. 56. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc.
• García Morillo, Roberto. 1960. Carlos Chávez: Vida y obra. Tierra Firme. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. ISBN 968-16-0222-6.
• Orbón, Julián. 1987b. "Las sinfonías de Carlos Chávez." (part 2). Pauta: Cuadernos de teoría y crítica musical 6, no. 22 (April–June): 81–91.
• Parker, Robert L. 1983. Carlos Chávez, Mexico's Modern-Day Orpheus. Twayne's Music Series. Boston: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-9455-7.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1945. Music of Latin America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

• Leonard Bernstein's marked conducting score of Carlos Chávez, Sinfonía india. Leon Levy Digital Collection: International Era 1943–1970. New York Philharmonic Digital Archive (Accessed 3 July 2012).