Taking as a thread the concept of national identity, this book elucidates the sound transformations that have taken place in the world of the Latin American art song since its appearance in the late nineteenth century to the present day. The book focuses in the art songs of Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. The book addresses the subject of performance practice of the Latin American song and ends with a proposal for its interpretation. In songs, spaces of representation and cathartic tools thought, language and music have been at the service of some interests, fulfilling specific functions in the construction of the nation. In them, we observe that the construction of identity is a continuous, constant and changing process in which different stories are superimposed. Seen this way, songs are historical texts where social interactions are reflected, and the past, the present and the future are constantly negotiated. The book also addresses the subject of performance practice of the Latin American song and ends with a proposal for its interpretation.
Foreword by Walter Clark Prelude Introduction Chapter 1: The sounds of the imagined nations Towards a broader definition of nationalism Latin America: multiple identities Musical nationalism in Latin America Latin American National Anthems: Towards a national identity? Salon music and the influence of Italian opera The construction of the national sound begins Creolism Alberto Nepomuceno: Song in Portuguese Developing the National Style Alberto Williams and the stylization of folk song The double verbal-musical nature of song: Latin American composers setting Latin American poems to music Chapter 2: A creative storm Art song as a medium of expression of modernist nationalism Argentina Brazil Cuba Peru Venezuela Chapter 3: New facets of the concept of nationalism in the 20th century Art song since 1940 Alberto Ginastera: from a national style to a national atmosphere Carlos Guastavino: the voice of tradition Jaime Leon: a Pan-American voice The Nueva Cancion Latinoamericana movement and its relation to art song Chapter 4: Towards a musical transnationalism or the dissolution of borders. Transnationalism: multiple places or the non-place A transnational composer: Moises Bertran (Catalunya, 1967) Transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, multi-locality, neo-nationalism? Chapter 5: Performance practice of Latin American Art Song The concept of performance practice Performance: a space of communication between performers and audience The performance of art song: an integrative space Art song and its performance Folk song and its performance Popular song and its performance Looking for the borders between Art song and Folk song: Following the steps of Marcel Duchamp Pierre Bourdieu and the concepts of field and habitus applied to the study of song Meaning-producing agents in the world of song Meaning-producing agents in the sub-field of art song Performance context of art song Meaning-producing agents in the sub-field of folk song Performance context of folk song Meaning-producing agents in the sub-field of popular song Performance context of popular song The dual status of folk and art song: Marcel Duchamp and the "ready-mades" Song: an elastic, flexible and integrating space Proposals for a new performance practice of Latin American art song Discography Bibliography
