Galindo (Dimas), Bias

Galindo (Dimas), Bias, noted Mexican composer and pedagogue; b. San Gabriel, Jalisco, Feb. 3, 1910; d. Mexico City, April 19, 1993. He was 7 when he began his musical training with Antonio Velasco. In 1931 he entered the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica de Mexico in Mexico City, where he studied with José Rolon (harmony, counterpoint, and fugue), Candelario Huizar (analysis and orchestration), César Chavez (composition), and Rodriguez Vizcarra (piano), and graduated with highest honors in 1944; he also attended Copland’s composition classes at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (summers, 1941, 1942). With Daniel Ayala, Salvador Contreras, and Jose Pablo Moncayo, he was a founder-member of the contemporary music group El Grupo de los Cuatro (1935–40). In 1944 he became a teacher at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica de Mexico, where he later was its director (1947–61). In 1966 he became a founder-member of the Mexican National Academy of the Arts. The Mexican government honored him with the National Award of Arts and Sciences in 1964. In his extensive output, he displayed a genuine respect for traditional forms. The folkloric element of his early works gave way to a sophisticated use of dissonance without abandoning accessibility.

Works

ORCH Obm para orquesta mexicana (1938); Sones de mariachi for Small Orch. (1940; also for Large Orch., 1941); 2 piano concertos: No. 1 (Mexico City, July 24, 1942) and No. 2 (1961; Mexico City, Aug. 17, 1962); Nocturno (1945); Arrullo for Strings (1945); Don Quijote (1947); Homenaje a Cervantes, suite (1947); Poema de Neruda for Strings (1948); Pequenas variaciones (1951); 3 syms.: No. 1, Sinfoma breve or Pequena sinfonia for Strings (Mexico City, Aug. 22, 1952), No. 2 (Caracas, March 19, 1957), and No. 3 (Washington, D.C., April 30, 1961); Obertura mexicana No. 1 (1953), No. 2 (1981), and No. 3 (1982); 2 flute concertos: No. 1 with Orch. (1960, New Orleans, April 3, 1965) and No. 2 with Symphonic Band (1979); 4 Pieces (1961; Mexico City, Nov. 15, 1963); Violin Concerto (1962; Mexico City, Sept. 13, 1970); 3 Pieces for Clarinet and Orch. (1962); Overture for Organ and Strings (1963); 3 Pieces for Horn and Orch. (1963); Concertino for Electric Guitar and Orch. (1973; Mexico City, June 12, 1977); Triptico for Strings (1974); Concertino for Violin and Strings (1978); Homenaje a Juan Rulfo (1980); Cello Concerto (1984); Suite for Chamber Orch. (1985); Concerto for Guitar and Symphonic Band (1988); Homenaje a Rodolfo Halffter (1989). DRAMATIC: B a l l e t : Entre sombras anda elfuego (Mexico City, March 23, 1940); Danza de lasfuerzas nuevas (1940); El zdnate (Mexico City, Dec. 6, 1947); La manda (Mexico City, March 31, 1951); El sueno y la presencia (Mexico City, Nov. 24, 1951); La hija del yori (1952); El maleficio (Mexico City, Oct. 28, 1954). T h e a t e r : Astucia (1948); Los signos del zodiaco (1951). O t h e r : Incidental music. CHAMBER: Suite for Violin and Cello (1933); Quartet for Cellos (1936); Bosquejos for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon (1937); Dos preludios for Oboe, English Horn, and Piano (1938); Sexteto de alientos for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone (1941); Violin Sonata (1945); Cello Sonata (1948); Suite for Violin and Piano (1957); Quintet for Bow Instruments and Piano (1957); Tres sonsonetes for Wind Quintet and Tape (1967); Quartet for Bow Instruments (1970); Titoco-tico for Native Percussion (1971); Invenciones for Brass Quintet (1977); 3 Pieces for Percussion (1980); Sonata for Solo Cello (1981); Wind Quintet (1982); Duo for Violin and Cello (1984). Also many piano pieces, including a Sonata (1976); organ music. VOCAL: Primavera for Children’s Chorus and Band or Piano (1944); Arullo for Voices and Orch. (1945); A la patria for Chorus and Orch. (1946); Homenaje a Juarez for Soprano, Tenor, Bass, Reciter, Chorus, and Orch. (1957); A la independencia for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, and Strings (1960); Triptico Teotihuacan for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus, Band, and Native Instruments (1964); Letania erotica para La Paz for Narrator, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Chorus, Organ, and Orch. (1965); Homenaje a Ruben Dario for Reciter and String Orch. (1966); Popocatepetl, symphonic poem for Soprano, Tenor, and Orch. (1990); Homenaje a Rufino Tamayo for Tenor and Orch. (1987).

Bibliography

X. Ortiz, B. G.: Biografia, antologia de textos y catdlogo (Mexico City, 1994).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire