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Carlos Chávez
Person · male · Mexico · Popotla · born 1899 · died 1978 · recording since 1949
Mexican composer (1899-1978)
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Also known as Carlos Chávez Ramírez · 卡洛斯·查維斯
Timeline
22 events▣ Album 17✦ Award 2◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1† Death 1
1890s
1930s
1940s
· Debut release
Debut release: A Program of Mexican Music
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
· Album
Album: Moncayo: Huapango / Tierra de temporal / Revueltas: La noche de los mayas / Chávez: Chacona
Album
source: musicbrainz
2000s
2010s
Biography
English biography1,854 words · 4 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1374496839
Biography
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez (13 June 1899 – 2 August 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six symphonies, the second, or Sinfonía india, which uses native Yaqui percussion instruments, is probably the most popular.
Biography
The seventh child of a criollo family, Chávez was born on Tacuba Avenue in Mexico City, near the suburb of Popotla. His paternal grandfather, José María Chávez Alonso, a former governor of the state of Aguascalientes, had been executed by the French Army in April 1864 during its second invasion of Mexico. His father, Augustín Chávez, who died when Carlos was barely three years old, invented a plough that was produced and used in the United States.
Carlos had his first piano lessons from his brother Manuel, and later on he was taught piano by Asunción Parra, Manuel Ponce, and Pedro Luis Ozagón, and harmony by Juan Fuentes. His family often holidayed in Tlaxcala, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, and other places where the cultural influence of the Mexican indigenous peoples was still very strong.
In 1916, Chávez and friends started a cultural journal, Gladios, and this led to his joining the staff of the Mexico City newspaper El Universal in 1924. In the succeeding 36 years he was to write over 500 items for this paper.
After the Mexican Revolution and the installation of a democratically elected president, Álvaro Obregón, Chávez became one of the first exponents of Mexican nationalist music with ballets on Aztec themes.
In September 1922, Chávez married Otilia Ortiz and they went on honeymoon to Europe, from October 1922 until April 1923, spending two weeks in Vienna, five months in Berlin, and eight or ten days in Paris. During the latter visit he met Paul Dukas. Some months later, in December 1923, Chávez visited the United States for the first time, returning in March 1924. Chávez again went to New York City in September 1926 and stayed there until June 1928. Upon his return to Mexico, Chávez became director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Mexicana (Mexican Symphonic Orchestra), later renamed Orquesta Sinfónica de México (Mexico's Symphonic Orchestra); the country's first permanent orchestra, started by a musicians' labor union. Chávez was instrumental in taking the orchestra on tour through Mexico's rural areas.
In December 1928, Chávez was appointed director of Mexico's National Conservatory of Music—a position he held for a total of five years (until March 1933, and again for eight months in 1934). In that capacity, Chávez spearheaded three Spanish: academias de investigación, two concerned with collecting and cataloguing indigenous music and its literature, and the third to study the uses of old and new scales.
In 1937, Chávez published a book, Toward a New Music, which is one of the first books in which a composer speaks about electronic music. In 1938, he conducted a series of concerts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, during a period of absence by the orchestra's regular conductor, Arturo Toscanini. In 1940 he produced concerts at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and by 1945, Chávez had come to be regarded as the foremost Mexican composer and conductor.
From January 1947 until 1952, Chávez served as director-general of the National Institute of Fine Arts. In his first year, he formed the National Symphony Orchestra, which supplanted the older OSM as Mexico's premier orchestra and led to the disbanding of the older ensemble. Throughout all this time, Chávez maintained a busy international touring schedule.
In May 1953 he was commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein, director of the New York City center of Music and Drama, for a three-act opera to a libretto by Chester Kallman based on a story by Boccaccio, to be titled The Tuscan Players. Intended to be finished in August 1954, it was first postponed to April 1955, but only finally completed in 1956, by which time the title had been changed twice, first to Pánfilo and Lauretta, then to El amor propiciado. The City Center waived its rights to the first performance, which was given under the title Panfilo and Lauretta in the Brander Matthews Theatre at Columbia University in New York on 9 May 1957, under the baton of Howard Shanet. Stage direction was by Bill Butler, scenic design by Herbert Senn and Helen Pond, and costumes by Sylvia Wintle. The principal singers were Sylvia Stahlman, Frank Porretta, Craig Timberlake, Mary McMurray, Michael Kermoyan, and Thomas Stewart. The opera would be revised twice more and the title changed again to Los visitantes (The Visitors), for productions in 1968 and 1973, in Mexico City and Aptos, California, respectively.() From 1958 to 1959 he was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at Harvard University, and the public lectures he gave there were published as a book, Musical Thought.
From 1970 to 1973, Chávez served as the music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. His orchestral composition Discovery (1969) had previously been commission by the Festival and was first performed there.
Failing health and financial setbacks forced Chávez to sell his house in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City and move in with his daughter Anita in Coyoacán, in the fringes of the Mexican capital, where he died quietly on 2 August 1978, his wife having died in April.
Chávez's manuscripts and papers are housed in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and in the National Archive of Mexico, in Mexico City.
Musical style
Chávez's music does not fall into clear stylistic periods, but rather cumulates elements in a process of continual synthesis. The juvenilia, up to 1921 and consisting primarily of piano compositions, is essentially Romantic, with Robert Schumann as the main influence. A period of nationalistic leanings was initiated in 1921 with the Aztec-themed ballet El fuego nuevo (The New Fire), followed by a second ballet, Los cuatro soles (The Four Suns), in 1925.
During his time in New York City between 1924 and 1928, Chávez acquired a taste for the then-fashionable abstract and quasi-scientific music, as is reflected in the titles of many of his compositions written between 1923 and 1934: Polígonos for piano (Polygons, 1923), Exágonos for voice and piano (Hexagons, 1924), 36 for piano (1925), Energía for nine instruments (Energy, 1925), Espiral for violin and piano (Spiral, 1934), and an unfinished orchestral score titled Pirámides (Pyramids).
The culmination of this period was the ballet H. P. (i.e., Horse Power), also known by the Spanish title Caballos de vapor (1926–31). H. P. is a colorfully orchestrated score of ample dimensions and dense, compact atmosphere, notable for its dynamism and vitality, revealing the influence of Stravinsky and at the same time returning to folkloric and popular elements, with dances such as the sandunga, tango, huapango, and foxtrot. Such nationalisms would appear through the 1930s, notably in the Second Symphony (the Sinfonía índia of 1935–36, one of the few works by Chávez to quote actual Native-American themes), but only sporadically in later compositions. Diego Rivera designed the sets and costumes for the ballet's premiere in Philadelphia in 1932.
Although this early period saw the creation of the Sonatina for violin and piano (1924), it was only in the 1930s that Chávez returned to another of the main musical interests of his maturity, prefigured in the juvenilia: the traditional genres of the sonata, quartet, symphony, and concerto. He composed six numbered symphonies. The first, titled Sinfonía de Antígona (1933), was reworked from incidental music for Jean Cocteau's Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy. In it, Chávez sought to create an archaic ambiance through the use of modal polyphony, harmonies built on fourths and fifths, and a predominant use of wind instruments.
In the fourth of his Norton lectures of 1958–59, titled "Repetition in Music", he described a mode of composition already observable in many of his compositions since the 1920s, in which "The idea of repetition and variation can be replaced by the notion of constant rebirth, of true derivation: a stream that never comes back to its source; a stream in eternal development, like a spiral ..." A notable early example of this method is Soli I (1933), the first work acknowledged by the composer to have been consciously organized according to this principle. It only became a regular feature, however, beginning with Invención I for piano (1958), and subsequently in most of his instrumental compositions of the 1960s and 1970s: Invención II for string trio (1965), Invención III for harp (1967), Soli II for wind quintet (1961), Soli III for bassoon, trumpet, viola, timpani, and orchestra (1969), Soli IV for brass trio (1966), Cinco Caprichos for piano (1975), and the late orchestral works Resonancias (1964), Elatio (1967), Discovery (1969), Clio (1969), and Initium (1970–72).
Recordings
Chávez made more than a handful of recordings, conducting his own music as well as that of other composers. One of the earliest was made in the 1930s for RCA Victor, containing Chávez's Sinfonía de Antígona and Sinfonía India, together with his orchestration of Dieterich Buxtehude's Chaconne in E minor: 4-disc 78-rpm set, Victor Red Seal M 503. The best-known of his discs was the Everest Records stereophonic recording of his Sinfonía India, Sinfonía de Antígona, and Sinfonía romántica, in which Chávez conducted the Stadium Symphony Orchestra, the name given to the New York Philharmonic for its summer performances in the Lewisohn Stadium. The album was originally issued in 1959 by Everest Records on LP SDBR 3029, and was reissued on CD in 1996 by Everest as EVC-9041, as well as at some point by Philips Records. In 1963 Chávez conducted the Vienna State Opera Orchestra in two recordings with pianist Eugene List for Westminster Records, both released on LP: one of his own Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Westminster WST 17030, reissued in 1976 as Westminster Gold WGS 8324) and one of the two piano concertos by Edward MacDowell (ABC Westminster Gold WGS 8156).
In the 1950s he released two recordings on US Decca Records, on which he conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica de México. In 1951 a 10-inch mono LP was issued (Decca Gold Label DL 7512, reissued 1978 by Varèse Sarabande on side 2 of 12-inch LP ), containing his Suite from La hija de Cólquide (originally recorded in 1947 for the Mexican label Anfión and issued as a 3-disc 78 rpm set Anfión AM 4), and in 1956 Decca released an anthology, Music of Mexico, on which he conducted three of his own works, plus José Pablo Moncayo's Huapango (Decca Gold Label LP, DL9527).
He also made some recordings for Columbia Records which were issued on 78-rpm discs and on LP (Columbia 4-disc 78-rpm set M 414, reissued 1949 on Columbia 10-inch LP, Columbia ML 2080 and Mexican Columbia DCL 98, reissued on Columbia 12-inch LP, LL 1015; CBS Masterworks 3-LP set 32 31 0001 (mono)/ 32 31 002 (stereo); CBC Masterworks LP 32 11 0064; Columbia LP M32685; Odyssey LP Y 31534). In 1961 he recorded Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de México and Carlos Pellicer, narrator, released on Mexican Columbia MC 1360.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 27 | 88.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 22 | 87.8th |
| Studio albums | 18 | 95.8th |
| Awards recorded | 2 | 92.6th |
| Timeline events | 22 | 94.7th |
| Recording span (years) | 29 | 64th |
| Genres | 4 | 84.7th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (22 release groups · 18 studio albums)
Albums · 18
1949 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks
A1Sones mariachi (Jalisco)A2La paloma azulB1Xochipili-MacuilzochitlB2Danza a Centeotl (from "Los cuatro soles")B3Yaqui Music (Sonora)B4Huapango (Vera Cruz)Six Symphonies of Carlos Chavez
1967 · studio album
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Tracklist · 15 tracks · 2:03:19
Disc 11Sinfonia india (Symphony no. 2)11:222Sinfonia de Antigona (Symphony no. 1)10:173Symphony no. 3: I. Introduzione. Andante moderato5:484Symphony no. 3: II. Allegro. Allegro non troppo8:265Symphony no. 3: III. Scherzo5:306Symphony no. 3: IV. Finale. Molto lento7:33Disc 21Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): I. Allegro6:412Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): II. Molto lento4:423Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): III. Vivo non troppo mosso8:334Symphony no. 5: I. Allegro molto moderato6:195Symphony no. 5: II. Molto lento9:156Symphony no. 5: III. Allegro con brio6:29Disc 31Symphony no. 6: I. Allegro energico11:202Symphony no. 6: II. Adagio molto cantabile5:233Symphony no. 6: III. Con anima15:411989 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 57:38
1Huapango8:002Ocho X Radio5:143Sones de Mariachi7:464Sensamaya6:525Don Lindo de Almeria19:166Symphony no. 2, "Sinfonia India"10:30Moncayo: Huapango / Tierra de temporal / Revueltas: La noche de los mayas / Chávez: Chacona
1993 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 1:00:42
1Huapango9:122Tierra de temporal11:513Chacona en mi menor (original de Dietrich Buxtehude)7:244La noche de los mayas: Noche de los mayas (Molto sostenuto)7:405La noche de los mayas: Noche de jaranas (Scherzo)5:226La noche de los mayas: Noche de Yucatán (Andante espressivo; attacca)8:227La noche de los mayas: Noche de encantamiento (Tema y variaciones)10:511993 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 1:11:43
1Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: I. Allegro non troppo16:152Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: II. Andante espressivo7:263Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: III. Vivo giocoso8:304Symphony no. 2 “Sinfonía india”11:545La noche de los mayas: I. Noche de los mayas6:216La noche de los mayas: II. Noche de jaranas5:077La noche de los mayas: III. Noche de Yucatán7:018La noche de los mayas: IV. Noche de encantamiento9:091994 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 1:11:21
1Homenaje a Federico García Lorca: I. Baile3:392Homenaje a Federico García Lorca: II. Duelo4:223Homenaje a Federico García Lorca: III. Son3:194Sensemayá6:535Janitzio6:366La noche de los mayas: I. La noche de los mayas5:597La noche de los mayas: II. La noche de jaranas5:278La noche de los mayas: III. La noche de Yucatán5:589La noche de los mayas: IV. La noche de encantamiento9:0910Tocatta7:1511Bosques12:441995 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 55:37
1Toccata for Orchestra6:472Paisajes mexicanos (variaciones sinfónicas): Part One. Lentamente8:503Paisajes mexicanos (variaciones sinfónicas): Part Two. Lento7:274La hija de Cólquide (suite sinfónica)23:125Cantos de México4:036Baile (cuadro sinfónico)5:18Sinfonía india / Sinfonía de Antígona / Sinfonía romántica
1996 · studio album
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Tracklist · 5 tracks · 43:46
1Sinfonía n.º 2 “india”11:172Sinfonía n.º 1 “de Antígona”10:593Sinfonía n.º 4 “romántica”: Allegro7:064Sinfonía n.º 4 “romántica”: Molto lento5:165Sinfonía n.º 4 “romántica”: Finale. Vivo non troppo mosso9:08Cuartetos mexicanos desconocidos, vol. II
1999 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 59:18
1Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 4: I. Allegro5:102Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 4: II3:543Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 4: III. Calmado espressivo7:224Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 4: IV. Allegro4:345Cuarteto de cuerdas: Poco allegro – moderato, múy rubato15:216Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 3: I. Allegro5:467Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 3: II. Lento6:088Cuarteto de cuerdas n.º 3: III. Allegro11:03The Piano Works of Carlos Chávez
1999 · studio album
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Tracklist · 28 tracks · 2:02:47
Disc 11Ten Preludes: I. Andantino espressivo3:402Ten Preludes: II. Vivace2:263Ten Preludes: III. Poco mosso1:524Ten Preludes: IV. Animato3:275Ten Preludes: V. Cantabile1:556Ten Preludes: VI. Calmo3:187Ten Preludes: VII. Lento4:278Ten Preludes: VIII. Vivo3:459Ten Preludes: IX. Moderato molto cantabile4:4510Ten Preludes: X. Allegro4:5111Piano Sonata No. 6: I. Allegro6:3712Piano Sonata No. 6: II. Andantino4:0413Piano Sonata No. 6: III. Theme and Variations17:39Disc 21Piano Sonata No. 2: I. Allegro doloroso9:162Piano Sonata No. 2: II. Andante8:233Piano Sonata No. 2: III. Molto inquieto8:234Seven Pieces: I. Poligonos2:345Seven Pieces: II. Solo1:296Seven Pieces: III. 361:177Seven Pieces: IV. Blues1:238Seven Pieces: V. Fox2:469Seven Pieces: VI. Paisaje1:0710Seven Pieces: VII. Unidad5:1511Five Caprichos: I. Animato1:3912Five Caprichos: II. Lentissimo3:5113Five Caprichos: III. Vivo3:4614Five Caprichos: IV. Adagio4:5615Five Caprichos: V. Mosso3:56Chávez, Márquez, Moncayo, Revueltas y Rolón
2000 · studio album
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Tracklist · 5 tracks · 51:18
1Danzón n.º 210:342Tierra de temporal13:263Sensemayá6:404El festín de los enanos7:025Sinfonía india13:36Concierto para violín / Concierto para piano
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 1:06:15
1Concierto para violín: Largo - Allegro moderato7:472Concierto para violín: Largo5:213Concierto para violín: Scherzo1:594Concierto para violín: Cadenza3:345Concierto para violín: Tempo primo (Scherzo)1:376Concierto para violín: Largo4:367Concierto para violín: Allegro moderato2:468Concierto para violín: Allegro2:389Concierto para piano: Largo non troppo - Allegro agitato19:5810Concierto para piano: Molto lento (attacca)8:5711Concierto para piano: Finale: Allegro non troppo7:02Complete Chamber Works of Carlos Chavez, Vol. 1
2003 · studio album
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Tracklist · 16 tracks · 1:08:49
1Invention I for Piano: I. Con Anima, Tempo Giusto10:362Invention I for Piano: II. Lento5:373Invention I for Piano: III. Vivo, Tempo Giusto5:444Invention II for String Trio: I. Molto Moderato, In Tempo Giusto4:365Invention II for String Trio: II. Molto Lento, Tempo Giusto3:316Invention II for String Trio: III. Vivo, In Tempo Giusto4:147Invention III for Harp: I. Quarter Note = 602:168Invention III for Harp: II. Quarter Note = 362:059Invention III for Harp: III. Quater Note = 1522:4310Suite for Double Quartet: I. Preludio5:5311Suite for Double Quartet: II. Interludio2:3112Suite for Double Quartet: III. Incantamento2:4713Suite for Double Quartet: IV. Saraband4:5714Suite for Double Quartet: V. Peana4:4915Suite for Double Quartet: VI. Postludio3:3816Upingos for Oboe2:52Complete Chamber Works of Carlos Chávez, Volume 2
2004 · studio album
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Tracklist · 23 tracks · 1:05:52
1Energía for Nine Instruments: I. Mosso3:002Energía for Nine Instruments: II. Moderato1:273Energía for Nine Instruments: III. Tempo senza rigore0:364Energía for Nine Instruments: IV. Vivo1:045Soli I for Winds: I. Sciolto e ritmato1:046Soli I for Winds: II. Moderato2:207Soli I for Winds: III. Molto lento2:118Soli I for Winds: IV. Vivo1:409Soli II for Winds Quintet: I. Preludio3:5310Soli II for Winds Quintet: II. Rondo3:5311Soli II for Winds Quintet: III. Aria4:2012Soli II for Winds Quintet: IV. Sonatina5:0113Soli II for Winds Quintet: V. Finale3:3514Soli IV for Brass Trio: I. Quarter Note = 840:0415Soli IV for Brass Trio: II. Quarter Note = 382:3516Soli IV for Brass Trio: III. Quarter Note = 763:4817Soli IV for Brass Trio: IV. Quarter Note = 720:0818Soli IV for Brass Trio: V. Quarter Note = 501:4219Soli IV for Brass Trio: VI. Quarter Note = 1441:3220Soli IV for Brass Trio: VII. Quarter Note = 840:4321Sonata for Four Horns: I. Allegro7:1822Sonata for Four Horns: II. Adagio cantabile8:4023Sonata for Four Horns: III. Allegro5:18Carlos Chávez: Complete Chamber Music Vol. 3
2005 · studio album
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Tracklist · 29 tracks · 1:11:54
1Xochipilli, an Imagined Aztec Music: I. Allegro Animato1:422Xochipilli, an Imagined Aztec Music: II. Lento2:043Xochipilli, an Imagined Aztec Music: III. Vivo2:474Toccata for Percussion: I. Allegro Sempre Giusto4:385Toccata for Percussion: II. Largo4:056Toccata for Percussion: III. Allegro Un Poco Marziale3:247Cuatro Melodías Tradicionales Indias del Ecuador: No. 1. Qué te Parece, Pirucha1:448Cuatro Melodías Tradicionales Indias del Ecuador: No. 2. Santo, San Juanito0:569Cuatro Melodías Tradicionales Indias del Ecuador: No. 3. Tristezas Me Depara3:1810Cuatro Melodías Tradicionales Indias del Ecuador: No. 4. Quisiera Ser Danzantito1:2511Tambuco for Percussion: I. Vivo5:1212Tambuco for Percussion: II. Lento4:5613Tambuco for Percussion: III. Animato, non troppo mosso5:5014Lamentaciónes2:2215Cantos de México: I. Poco Movido1:1216Cantos de México: II. Lento0:5817Cantos de México: III. Vivo1:3618Antígona, apuntes para la Sinfonía: I. Prólogo3:3519Antígona, apuntes para la Sinfonía: II. Episodio y Treno2:3420Tres Exágonos: No. 1. Amar. Toda la vida en llamas1:0121Tres Exágonos: No. 2. Llegad, oh dulces horas1:2122Tres Exágonos: No. 3. Amada, déjame ver la luna1:0923Otros Tres Exágonos: No. 1. El buque ha chocado1:0624Otros Tres Exágonos: No. 2. ?A dónde va mi corazó?1:4025Otros Tres Exágonos: No. 3. Cuando el transatlántico2:1526Partita for solo timpani: I. Præludium3:2227Partita for solo timpani: II. Sarabande2:0828Partita for solo timpani: III. Allemande1:3129Partita for solo timpani: IV. Giga2:03Carlos Chávez: Complete Chamber Music Vol. 4.
2006 · studio album
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Tracklist · 51 tracks · 2:30:59
Disc 11String Quartet No. 1: I. Allegro4:192String Quartet No. 1: II. Adagio4:313String Quartet No. 1: III. Vivo2:364String Quartet No. 1: IV. Sostenuto2:215String Quartet No. 2: I. Allegro moderato6:426String Quartet No. 2: II. Scherzo5:417String Quartet No. 2: III. Largo, liberamente5:338String Quartet No. 2: IV. Moderato5:529String Quartet No. 3: I. Allegro5:3710String Quartet No. 3: II. Lento5:1811String Quartet No. 3: III. Allegro10:0312Sonatina for Piano: I. Moderato1:0613Sonatina for Piano: II. Andantino0:3714Sonatina for Piano: III. Allegretto0:5715Sonatina for Piano: IV. Lento1:0716Sonatina for Violin & Piano: I. Largo1:5517Sonatina for Violin & Piano: II. Scherzo1:3818Sonatina for Violin & Piano: III. Adagio1:5919Sonatina for Violin & Piano: IV. Largo1:2920Sonatina for Violincello & Piano: I. Moderato1:3921Sonatina for Violincello & Piano: II. Vivo1:2422Sonatina for Violincello & Piano: III. Tranquillo3:1023Sonatina for Violincello & Piano: IV. Moderato1:46Disc 21Sextet for Piano & Strings: I. Lento2:342Sextet for Piano & Strings: II. Allegro con brio7:043Sextet for Piano & Strings: III. Andante11:184Sextet for Piano & Strings: IV. Presto Scherzando4:465Sextet for Piano & Strings: V. Allegretto5:236Three Pieces for Guitar: I. Largo2:107Three Pieces for Guitar: II. Tranquillo3:398Three Pieces for Guitar: III. Un poco mosso2:129Three Spirals for Violin & Piano: I. Vivo3:0210Three Spirals for Violin & Piano: II. Tranquillo1:5511Three Spirals for Violin & Piano: III. Un poco mosso3:2612Fuga H-A-G-C for Strings2:4513Variations for Violin with Piano: I. Quarter Note = 480:0914Variations for Violin with Piano: II. Quarter Note = 521:1915Variations for Violin with Piano: III. Dotted Quarter Note = 1261:1116Variations for Violin with Piano: IV. Quarter Note = 691:0117Variations for Violin with Piano: V. Quarter Note = 480:5918Variations for Violin with Piano: VI. Dotted Half Note = 501:0719Variations for Violin with Piano: VII. Quarter Note = 1000:3720Variations for Violin with Piano: VIII. Quarter Note = 840:3321Variations for Violin with Piano: IX. Quarter Note = 481:2222Variations for Violin with Piano: X. Quarter Note = 1001:0423Variations for Violin with Piano: XI. Quarter Note = 1121:2024Feuille d'Album for Guitar2:4525Trio for Flute, Viola & Harp: I. The Snow is Dancing (Debussy)3:1326Trio for Flute, Viola & Harp: II. Asturiana (de Falla)2:0927Trio for Flute, Viola & Harp: III. Polo (de Falla)1:3928Trio for Flute, Viola & Harp: IV. Golliwogg's Cakewalk (Debussy)2:572013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 1:04:46
1Piano Concerto: I. Largo non troppo – Allegro agitato20:162Piano Concerto: II. Molto lento9:113Piano Concerto: III. Finale: Allegro non troppo7:114Meditación5:125Muros Verdes6:416Variations on an Original Theme16:15— · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 54:59
1Symphony No. 2 "Sinfonía india"12:492Symphony No. 1 "Sinfonía de Antígona"11:003Symphony No. 3: I. Introduzione: Andante moderato7:234Symphony No. 3: II. Allegro9:215Symphony No. 3: III. Scherzo6:166Symphony No. 3: IV. Finale: Molto lento8:10
Album · 4
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | The Complete SymphoniesSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 12 tracks · 2:15:03Disc 1 1Sinfonía de Antígona (First Symphony)11:00 2Third Symphony: Introduzione: Andante moderato7:23 3Third Symphony: Allegro9:21 4Third Symphony: Scherzo6:13 5Third Symphony: Finale: Molto lento8:07 6Sinfonía romántica (Fourth Symphony)21:54 Disc 21Sinfonía india (Second Symphony)12:48 2Fifth Symphony: Allegro molto moderato – Molto lento16:42 3Fifth Symphony: Finale: Allegro con brio7:06 4Sixth Symphony: Allegro energico12:06 5Sixth Symphony: Adagio molto cantabile5:36 6Sixth Symphony: Passacaglia: Con anima16:47 | Compilation | 1992 | |
| 1994 | Musica mexicana, vol. 4Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 11 tracks · 1:02:211Redes: I. The Fisherman — The Child’s Funeral9:10 2Redes: II. Second Part6:30 3Homenaje a García Lorca10:52 4Tres cartas de México (Symphonic Suite): I. Allegro gais3:18 5Tres cartas de México (Symphonic Suite): II. Allegretto3:13 6Tres cartas de México (Symphonic Suite): III. Allegro3:56 7Homenaje a Cervantes (Suite): I. Gavota – Museta – Gavota2:48 8Homenaje a Cervantes (Suite): II. Sarabanda4:38 9Homenaje a Cervantes (Suite): III. Giga2:32 10Vals capricho9:21 11Zarabanda6:03 | Compilation | 1994 | |
| 1997 | Carlos Chavez Early RecordingsSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 18 tracks · 2:15:26Disc 1 1Sones Mariachi7:27 2La Paloma azul8:41 3Xochipili-Macuilxochitl4:14 4Danza a Centeotl4:20 5Musique Yaqui4:46 6Huapango3:06 7Chaconne en mi mineur7:57 8Sinfonia de Antigona11:03 9Sinfonia India11:36 Disc 21Ouverture républicaine7:26 2Preludio, La Fille de Colchide7:43 3Encantamiento, La Fille de Colchide2:42 4Zarabanda, La Fille de Colchide4:30 5Pean, La Fille de Colchide4:47 6Postludio, La Fille de Colchide3:33 7Corrido extraite du ballet "El Sol"7:55 8Pierre et le loup25:42 9Huapango7:58 | Compilation | 1997 | |
| 2023 | The Complete Columbia Album CollectionSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 59 tracks · 5:56:54Disc 1 1Sones Mariachi7:31 2La paloma azul8:43 3Xochipilli - An Imagined Aztec Music4:15 4Los cuatro soles: Danza a Centeotl4:24 5Yaqui Music4:48 6Huapango3:10 7Sinfonia india (Symphony no. 2)11:49 8Sinfonia de Antigona (Symphony no. 1)11:08 9Chaconne in E minor, BuxWV 1608:04 Disc 21Los cuatro soles: Danza a Centeotl3:55 2Xochipilli - An Imagined Aztec Music6:32 3El venado7:50 4La paloma azul7:46 5Sones Mariachi7:03 6La bamba3:32 Disc 31Sinfonia india (Symphony no. 2)11:22 2Sinfonia de Antigona (Symphony no. 1)10:17 3Symphony no. 3: I. Introduzione. Andante moderato - attacca5:48 4Symphony no. 3: II. Allegro. Allegro non troppo - attacca8:26 5Symphony no. 3: III. Scherzo - attacca5:30 6Symphony no. 3: IV. Finale. Molto lento7:33 Disc 41Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): I. Allegro - attacca6:41 2Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): II. Molto lento - attacca4:42 3Symphony no. 4 (Sinfonia romantica): III. Vivo non troppo mosso8:40 4Symphony no. 5: I. Allegro molto moderato - attacca6:19 5Symphony no. 5: II. Molto lento - attacca9:15 6Symphony no. 5: III. Allegro con brio6:34 7Symphony no. 6: I. Allegro energico11:20 8Symphony no. 6: II. Adagio molto cantabile5:23 9Symphony no. 6: III. Con anima15:41 Disc 51Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: I. Largo - Allegro moderato -14:49 2Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: II. Poco meno mosso -0:21 3Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: III. Lo stesso tempo -0:31 4Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: IV. Meno mosso -0:37 5Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: V. Cadenza -5:24 6Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: VI. Tempo primo -0:55 7Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: VII. Poco meno mosso -0:23 8Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: VIII. Lo stesso tempo -0:21 9Concerto for Violin and Orchestra: IX. Lo stesso tempo13:42 10Chaconne in E minor, BuxWV 1606:43 Disc 61Soli I: Sciolto e ritmato -0:58 2Soli I: Moderato -2:23 3Soli I: Molto lento -1:59 4Soli I: Vivo1:29 5Soli IV: ♩ = 84 -0:06 6Soli IV: ♩ = 38 -3:40 7Soli IV: ♩ = 76 -3:42 8Soli IV: ♩ = 72 -0:08 9Soli IV: ♩ = 50 -1:40 10Soli IV: ♩ = 144 -1:26 11Soli IV: ♩ = 840:42 12Soli II: Preludio. Lento -4:05 13Soli II: Rondo. Animato -3:52 14Soli II: Aria. Largo -5:00 15Soli II: Sonatina. Poco mosso -3:59 16Soli II: Finale. Largo3:49 Disc 71Pirámide: Act III. The Elements: Wind, Water, Earth, Fire7:22 2Pirámide: Act IV. General Dance13:57 3Los cuatro soles28:50 | Compilation | 7 July 2023 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Carlos Chávez head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 27 | 88.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 22 | 87.8th |
| Studio albums | 18 | 95.8th |
| Awards recorded | 2 | 92.6th |
| Timeline events | 22 | 94.7th |
| Recording span (years) | 29 | 64th |
| Genres | 4 | 84.7th |
Awards & honours
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Guggenheim Fellowship | won | |
| 1958 | National Prize for Arts and Sciences | won |
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlos_Chavez.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/282a8471-db28-4016-a055-eaf7ce97d0fcdiscography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/282a8471-db28-4016-a055-eaf7ce97d0fccore—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q357326genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q357326seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ch%C3%A1vezbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ch%C3%A1vez
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: notable long tail (listeners 0, 27 language versions)
Image: Carl van Vechten · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q357326 · MusicBrainz: 282a8471-db28-4016-a055-eaf7ce97d0fc
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