Sylvia Soublette

Sylvia Soublette Asmussen (February 5, 1924 – January 29, 2020) was a Chilean composer, singer, choirmaster and educator.[1][2][3] She won the 1964 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Gold Medal,[4] the 1997 Critics Award from the Valparaíso Art Critics Circle,[5] the 1998 music medal from the National Music Council,[6] and the Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit, which was awarded posthumously.[7] She published and performed under the name Sylvia Soublette.

Early life and family

Soublette was born in Viña del Mar to a musical family. Her brother is the musicologist Gastón Soublette. Their mother, Isabel Asmussen Urrutia, was a singer, and their father, Luis Soublette García-Vidaurre, took them to choral concerts. Their paternal grandmother was composer Rosa García Vidaurre. Sylvia Soublette began singing with her cousins at age 12.

In 1941, while studying at the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones, she founded the Coro Femenino Viña del Mar. She later founded a male choir at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso and a mixed one at the same institution in 1945.[8] The next year, she married Gabriel Valdés, who later became Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. They had three children (Maximiano, Juan Gabriel and María Gracia) and adopted a fourth (Enrique Bravo, son of their housemaid).[7][9]

Soublette studied music privately with Alina Piderit[10] and at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música with Federico Heinlein, Clara Oyuela, and Domingo Santa Cruz. She received a scholarship from the French government in 1951 to study at the Paris Conservatory with Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. After returning to Chile, she studied privately with Juan Orrego Salas.[4][6]

Career

Soublette taught at university in Valparaíso as well as at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. She founded the Ancient Music Ensemble in 1960, directing it until the 1973 military coup in Chile. Following the coup, she and her husband traveled first to the United States, then to Venezuela for two years. There, she met Jose Antonio Abreu, who had developed the youth orchestra program of Venezuela. She formed an early music ensemble in Venezuela, the Ars Musicae.[5] After returning to Chile, Soublette established the San Francisco Musical Center for the study of colonial music in 1981. In 1991, she formed the nonprofit Santiago Music Institute. She toured as the director of various groups throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States.[4] [6]

Soublette said, "I am a composer, but from another time. Not from the 21st century, but from the 20th century. However, at this point in time, what I feel most like is an educator."[11] Her works were recorded commercially by RCA Victor.[12]

Compositions

Chamber
  • Preludes (violin and piano)[6]
  • Suite in Three Movements (flute and piano)[13]

Orchestra
  • Prelude and Fugue[4]

Piano

Theatre

Vocal
  • Aquel Pastorcito (four voices; text by Jose M. Peman)[4]
  • “Cancion de Cuna” (text by Gabriela Mistral)[4]
  • Cancion Madre de Copacabana (soprano and three recorders)[4]
  • “Donde Estoy?” (soprano)[4]
  • Eva (cantata on text by Carmen Valle)[6]
  • Hallazgo (four voices)[6]
  • “Liuvia” (text by Juana Ibarbourou)[4]
  • Mass (solo voices, choir and orchestra)[9]
  • Muy ma Clara que la Luna (soprano and four recorders)[4]
  • Stabat Mater Dolorosa[9]
  • Suite Pastoril (soprano, tenor, flute, violin and harp)[6]
  • Three Choruses for Children[4]
  • Three Fables (mixed voices)[4]
  • “Unos Ojos Bellos” (text by Josef Valdivielso)[4]


References
  1. Casares Rodicio, Emilio, ed. (1999). "Soublette Asmussen, Sylvia". Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana Vol. 10 (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Sociedad General de Autores y Editores. p. 51. ISBN 978-84-8048-313-1.
  2. Stewart-Green, Miriam (1980). Women composers : a checklist of works for the solo voice. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall. ISBN 0-8161-8498-4. OCLC 6815939.
  3. Hixon, Donald L. (1993). Women in music : an encyclopedic bibibliography. Don A. Hennessee (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
  4. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (USA). ISBN 978-0-9617485-1-7.
  5. "SYLVIA SOUBLETTE: UNA VIDA DEDICADA A LA MÚSICA – NMWA | Museo Nacional de la Mujer en las Artes" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  6. "Sylvia Soublette (1922-2020) - Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile". www.memoriachilena.gob.cl. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  7. S.A.P, El Mercurio (2021-09-23). "Cantante y compositora Sylvia Soublette fue reconocida de manera póstuma con la Orden al Mérito Pablo Neruda | Emol.com". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  8. "Sylvia Soublette recibe en forma póstuma la Orden Pablo Neruda". Instituto de Música (in Spanish). 2021-09-23. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  9. "La voz de la música sacra". issuu. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  10. "Mujeres Bacanas | Sylvia Soublette (1923-2020)". Mujeres Bacanas (in Spanish). 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  11. Andrés Gómez Bravo (2020-01-29). "A los 96 años muere la cantante y compositora Sylvia Soublette, viuda de Gabriel Valdés". La Tercera. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  12. Soublette, Sylvia. "WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  13. Boenke, H. Alais (1988). Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-26019-3.
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