Chavez Will Speak on 'Musical Thought' In First Charles Eliot Norton Lecture

Carlos Chavez, Mexican composer and conductor, will be the Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer for 1958-59.

The first of three fall lectures on "The Musical Thought" will be given next Tuesday in Sanders Theater at 8 p.m.

Chavez, called by music critic Paul Rosenfeld "the most important living Latin-American composer," has conducted more than 28 symphony orchestras in the Western Hemisphere in the last 25 years, including a guest appearance at the Tanglewood Concerts in 1953.

"Art must be national in character, but universal in its foundations, and it must reach the vast majority of the people," Chavez once wrote. Critics have described his musical compositions as "highly original," characterized by "great vitality," and an "authentic expression of the rebirth of culture in 20th-century Mexico."

Chavez's main works include a variety of symphonies and shorter pieces. The combination of his entirely original works with Mexican folk music has been critically and popularly acclaimed a successful form of contemporary art.

Born in Mexico in 1899, Chavez studied music during his youth and was well acquainted with the works of the classical masters and the native Indian and Mestizo music of his own country by the time he was 20.

Chavez's first public concert was presented in Mexico City in 1921. Two years later, he organized and conducted a Mexico City program of chamber music concerts.

After spending two years in New York studying and composing, Chavez returned to Mexico to organize the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, which he conducted until 1948. During this time he presented the first performances in Mexico of practically all contemporary European composers.

Twice he directed the National Conservatory and there founded Mexico's major choral institution.

In his attempt to revitalize Mexican art, Chavez founded the Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts, within which he organized the National Orchestra of Mexico in 1948. Chavez comes to Harvard after spending a semester as visiting professor at the University of Buffalo.

Musical Thought

FALL SERIES

Tuesday, October 14

"A Latin American Composer"

Tuesday, November 18

"Poetic Communication" (followed by concert)

Wednesday, December 17

"Form in Music"

SPRING SERIES

Tuesday, February 17

"Repetition in Music"

Wednesday, March 18

"The Enjoyment of Music"

Tuesdayk, April 14

"Composer and Public"