Luis H. Salgado

Luis Humberto Salgado (1903 Cayambe – 1977 Quito) was an Ecuadorian composer. He was regarded as one of the most influential and prolific composers of his country.

Biography He was taught by his father, the composer Francisco Salgado, a former student of the Italian composer Domenico Brescia (who championed nationalism in Chile and Ecuador before permanently settling down in the USA). During the 1920s, Salgado made a living as a pianist for silent films in Quito. He later he worked as a critic, teacher, and choir and orchestra conductor; he also was director of the National Conservatory of Music in Quito.

In his essay Música vernácula ecuatoriana (Microestudio), published in 1952 in Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, he expresses his thoughts about the creation of a national form. For example, he replaced the classical symphonic pattern (Allegro - Larghetto - Allegretto Scherzo - Allegro Vivace) with a sequence of Ecuadorian folk dances:

Ecuadorian Symphony I Sanjuanito II Yaraví III Danzante IV Albazo, Aire típico or Alza

Luis Humberto Salgado was the leading figure of his generation. His symphonic suite Atahualpa (1933), his Suite coreográfica (1946), the ballets El amaño (1947), and El Dios Tumbal (1952) and other works show strong nationalistic feeling. Salgado also wrote two operas, Cumandá (1940, rev. 1954); Eunice (1956-7) that were never produced. Salgado was not an exclusively nationalist composer, as the varied style of his eight symphonies shows. In his later years, he even relied on atonality and tried his hand at 12-note composition. – Béhague, Gerard. 2001. "Ecuador. Art Music"

Though only two of his operas are mentioned in most music literature, he composed another two, together with nine symphonies, several concertos, several ballets. He was both a nationalist and a modernist composer. As early as 1944, he wrote Sanjuanito Futurista for piano, using the rhythm of a traditional Ecuadorian dance within the dodecaphonic writing style. He was in his early forties when he started experimenting with new techniques but was not acknowledged as a modernist until later in his life.

Compositions List Year Work Description 1933 Atahualpa o el ocaso de un Imperio (symphonic band) orchestra 1934 Ensueño de amor operetta 1936 Canto de Libertad ballet 1937 Andante for violin & orchestra orchestra 1940 (rev. 1954) Cumandá opera 1941 La consagración de las vírgenes del sol - Concerto for piano & orchestra orchestra 1944 Sanjuanito futurista (micro dance for piano) solo (piano) 1944 Cantata amerindia vocal 1945 Alma nativa vocal 1947 El Páramo (Preludio Andino-Ecuatoriano) 1947 Alejandría la pagana, melodrama orchestra 1946 Suite coreográfica ballet 1947 El Amaño ballet 1947 Qué lindo es el cariño (sanjuanito) song 1947 Quiteño de Quito (pasacalle) song 1948 Concierto fantasía en estilo nacional for piano & orchestra orchestra 1948 Variaciones en estilo folclórico orchestra 1949 Día de Corpus opera-ballet 1949 Symphony No. 1, "Andina" in G minor (revised in 1972 and renamed Sinfonía de ritmos vernaculares) orchestra 1949 Sismo (symphonic poem) orchestra 1950 Pieza característica orchestra 1952 El Dios Tumbal ballet 1953 Concierto para violín y orquesta in E Major orchestra 1953 Symphony No. 2, "Sintética (No. 1)"", in D minor orchestra 1955 Symphony No. 3, "Sobre un Tema Rococó: A-D-H-G-E", in D Major orchestra 1955 Danzas ecuatorianas for flute and orchestra flute and orchestra 1957 Symphony No. 4, "Ecuatoriana", in D Major orchestra 1957 Eunice opera 1958 Symphony No. 5, "Neo-Romántica" orchestra 1959 Homenaje a la danza criolla (symphonic poem) orchestra 1961 Aidita vocal 1961 El Centurión opera 1963 Concerto for Piano and Harp Obbligato orchestra 1966 Misa Solemne in D major (in five movements) choir & orchestra 1966 Misa Solemne (in four movements choir & orchestra 1968 Symphony No. 6 string orchestra and timpani 1968 Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra orchestra 1969 Suite ecuatoriana orchestra 1969 Ferviente anhelo (pasillo) song 1970 Symphony No. 7 in E minor (dedicated to the bicentennial of Beethoven’s birth) orchestra 1971 El Tribuno opera 1972 Symphony No. 8, in E minor (dedicated to the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Pichincha orchestra 1975 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra orchestra 1976 Ecuadorian Concerto for guitar and orchestra orchestra 1977 Symphony No. 9, "Sintética (No. 2)", in D Major orchestra

Discography The nine symphonies (3 CDs) by the Cuenca Symphony orchestra conducted by Michael Meissner Piano Music by Ecuadorian Composers CD. Piano: [Alex Alarcon Fabre], Brindis por la peaña (alza) (Luis Humberto Salgado) Nocturnal (pasillo) (Luis Humberto Salgado) Other works by: Gerardo Guevara, Corsino Duran, Claudio Aizaga, Juan Pablo Muñoz Sanz

Souvenir de l'Amérique du Sud (CD) (piano, Marcelo Ortiz, works by: Gerardo Guevara, Sixto María Durán and Miguel Ángel Casares) I. Amanecer de trasnochada (pasillo) - Luis H. Salgado Brindis al pasado (pasillo) - Luis H. Salgado II. Romance nativo (sanjuanito) - Luis H. Salgado VI. Nocturnal (pasillo) - Luis H. Salgado

Writings Salgado, Luis H. Música vernácula ecuatoriana (Microestudio), published in 1952 by Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana Salgado, Luis H. Proyecciones de la música contemporánea, published in September 1960 by Ritmo, Madrid, Spain.