CHAVEZ, CARLOS

born June 13, 1899, Mexico City, Mex. died Aug. 2, 1978, Mexico City in full Carlos Antonio De Padua Chvez Y Ramrez Mexican conductor and composer whose music skillfully combines elements of traditional folk songs and modern techniques. At the age of 19 Chvez completed his first symphony. In 1921 he wrote his first significant work in a Mexican style, the ballet El fuego nuevo (The New Fire). After traveling in Europe and in the United States, he founded and became conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico (1928) and director of the national conservatory in Mexico (192834). Chvez published numerous essays on Mexican music and a book, Toward a New Music (1937); his Charles Eliot Norton lectures (195859) at Harvard University were collected in Musical Thought (1960). The music of Chvez is unmistakably Mexican in its melodic patterns and rhythmic inflections. From Indian music he took ideas of percussion, primitive rhythms, and old forms of harmony and melody. He was also influenced by modern European and American music, especially that of Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. Among his best-known compositions are two early symphonies, Sinfona de Antgona (1933) and Sinfona India (1935), both one-movement works using Mexican Indian themes. The Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra (1940) is highly percussive. The Toccata for Percussion Instruments (1942) is scored for 11 types of percussion instruments, some of them native, played by six performers. Other works include the ballet Los cuatro soles (1925; The Four Suns), Xochipilli Macuilxochitl (1940) for orchestra with Indian instruments, the Concerto for Violin (1950), and Discovery for orchestra (1969).