Person
Pedrell, Carlos (1878-1941)
Minas (Lavalleja, Uruguay) 1878-09-16 - Montrouge (Altos del Sena, Francia) 1941-03-09
Spanish-Uruguayan composer and music critic.
Born on 16 October 1878 in Minas (Uruguay), and passed away on 9 March 1941 in Montrouge (France). Nephew of the composer and musicologist Felipe Pedrell. Husband of the singer Susana Schuelle.
After beginning his music education in Uruguay, Carlos moved to Spain and continued to study with his uncle. He completed his training at the Schola Cantorum in Paris with Vincent d'Indy and Pierre de Bréville. In 1906 he moved to Buenos Aires, where in his capacity as a certified music instructor, he undertook a technical analysis and study of certain aspects of the Argentine national anthem in 1908. In 1909, the National Board of Education asked him and Alfredo Ardoino Posse to create two new arrangements of the anthem, one for voice and piano, and another for orchestra. Finally, in 1910 both published their definitive study in Buenos Aires, "Estudio histórico-crítico del Himno Nacional Argentino". He joined the Sociedad Nacional de Música in 1915. In 1917 he premiered the opera "Ardid de amor", at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and in 1919 he composed "De Castilla", a cycle of six songs based on poems by Antonio Machado that won him the Breyer Award.
During these years, Pedrell collected samples of native and traditional American folk music and promoted a sense of patriotic pride in several Latin American countries. At the invitation of Spanish musician Inocencio Aguado Aguirre, director of the Instituto Musical Fontova in San Juan (Argentina), he gave several concerts with the violinist León Fontova. He returned to Europe in 1921 and settled in France, where he premiered the lyric comedy "La guitare" in 1924. Like his uncle, he was acquainted with the composer Manuel de Falla.
In the addition to the aforementioned works, Pedrell composed "Conte d'amour" (1925), a comic opera in three acts with a libretto by Carlos de Batlle; the ballets "Alleluia" (1926), with librettists Xavier de Courville and L. Rondel, and "Le gitane et la rose" (1930), with librettist Henry Prunières; the symphonic pieces "Une nuit de Schéhérezade" (1908), "Fantasía argentina" (1910) and "Obertura catalana" (1914); the suite "Castellanas" (1930) dedicated to Cuarteto Aguilar; "Cuatro canciones argentinas" (1924) with lyrics by Leopoldo Lugones, "Cuatro canciones" (1926) based on poems by Juan Ramón Jiménez, "Pastorales" (1928) and "Hispaniques" (1930) with texts by René Chalupt, for voice and piano; "Danzas de las tres princesas cautivas", "Al atardecer en los jardines de Arlaja", "Guitarreo", "Lamento" and "Página romántica" (1928) for guitar, all dedicated to Andrés Segovia; and "A orillas del Duero" (1923), premiered by Ricardo Viñes, and "Atardecer" (1924), for piano.
El Fondo Carlos Pedrell se conserva en la Bibliothèque-musée de l'Opéra - Bibliothèque nationale de France - Département de la Musique. C ontiene su archivo, correspondencia, artículos y publicaciones periódicas musicales.