Juan Carlos Paz

Juan Carlos Paz

Biography:

Juan Carlos Paz is and Argentine composer born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on August 5, 1901. He studied piano and composition with Roberto Nery, Gaito, and Fornarini in Buenos Aires. He later studied organ with Jules Beyer and then with D'Indy at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France. He also taught himself composition. In 1929 he formed the Grupo de Renovación with Juan José, José María Castro, Gilardi, and Ficher whose focus was to create music using contemporary trends. In 1937 the group separated and he later founded the Conciertos de la Nuava Música. The group's objective was to present innovatory European music such as chamber music. Other composers such as Perceval and Devoto joined him and the group was then named the Agrupación del Profesorado Orquestal. The group introduced new Argentine composers along with new European musical pieces. 

Throughout his entire career Paz composed music of various different styles. During the 1920's and early 1930's his music consisted mostly of the Romantic style. Some his major works from this period include the Cuatro fugas sobre un tema (1924-1925) and the Canto de Navidad ((1927). He was next interested in the neoclassical Stravinsky and jazz styles of music. Some of his works consisting of these styles include Tres movimientos de jazz (1932) and the Octeto for wind instruments (1930). During the same time much of his music was influenced by Scandinavian literature. An example of one of these pieces includes Tres commentaries líricos a 'El carter del rey' (1926). He later began studying Schoenberg and his 12-note theory. This led him adopt serial writing in 1934 which led to many works such as the Passcaglia for orchestra (1936). He later abandoned the 12-tone technique in 1950 and wrote a book Arnold Schoenberg, o el fin de la era tonal in 1954 which he explained how he believed the system didn't offer anything essentially new or useful to the music world. From then on he began to experiment with a new idiom which led to many well-known pieces such as Transformaciones canónicas (1955) and the piano series Núcleos (1962-1964). During the 1960's he gave up composing. 

Bibliography:

Information found at: Oxford Music Online (2010). Retrieved from:http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/21138?q=Juan+Carlos+Paz&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

Information found at: Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_Paz

Discography:

Orchestral:

·         Canto de Navidad, 1927, orchd 1930; 

·         Juliano Emperador (incid music, H. Ibsen), 1931; 

·         Movimiento sinfónico, 1930; 

·         Música para orquesta: Preludio y fuga, 1940;

·         Música para fagot, cuerdas y batería, 1955–6; Continuidad, 1960; 

·         Música para piano y orquesta, 1964

·         Passacaglia, 1936, 2nd version 1952–3; 

·         Passacaglia, str, 1944, rev. 1949; 

·         Rítmica ostinada, 1952; 6 superposiciones, 1954; 

·         Tres piezas, 1931; 

·         Transformaciones canónicas, 1955; 

Piano:

·         Canciones y baladas, 1936–7; 

·         Cinco piezas de carácter, 1937; 

·         Coral, e, 1921; 

·         Coral, F, 1925; 

·         Cuatro fugas sobre un tema, 1924–5; 

·         Diez piezas sobre una serie dodecafónica, 1936; 

·         Dos leyendas, 1925–6;

·         Fantasía, 1923; Fantasía y fuga, b, 1923; 

·         Música 1946, 1945–7; 

·         Núcleos, 1962–4

·         Preludio, coral y fuga, 1923; Sonata no.1, 1923; 

·         Seis baladas, 1927–9; Tema con transformaciones, 1928; 

·         Sonata no.2, 1925; 

·         Sonatina no.3, 1933; 

·         Sonata no.3, 1935; 

·         Tres comentarios líricos a ‘El cartero del rey’, 1926, arr. ens, 1942; 

·         Tres movimientos de jazz, 1932; 3 invenciones a 2 voces, 1932; 

·         Tres piezas líricas, 1922;