A portrait of Carlos Guastavino.

By Nancy Roldán.

Pianist-composer Carlos Guastavino was born to parents of Italian descent on April 5, 1912, in Santa Fe, Argentina. Music became an integral part of his life from a very early age. His father noticed his talent for music and took four-year-old Carlos to study with eminent pianist Esperanza Lothringer. While at school at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepción, in addition to singing in the children’s choir, he was introduced to the organ, on which he would improvise for the institution’s daily masses. After High School, he attended the Universidad Nacional del Litoral in Santa Fe, pursuing studies in Chemical Engineering, a career he followed mainly to please his parents, who were concerned a music career might not be practical.

Only during the last years of his university studies - while formally focusing on chemical engineering - was his musical talent truly recognized. In 1938, the Minister of Education of Santa Fe awarded Guastavino a scholarship to study composition at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Arte Escénico in Buenos Aires. His stay at the institution was short-lived and in less than a year he left the conservatory, but he continued his private studies in Harmony and Composition with composer Athos Palma.

As a composer, Guastavino remained detached from the ideological fights of his contemporaries. Having made a conscious decision not to identify with the “avant-garde” trends of the time and to bring forth the “music he inwardly heard,” Guastavino’s inspiration arose from his uniquely lyrical and harmonic perception. His music is infused with an uncommonly melodic vein in a predominantly neo-romantic harmonic language. An empathy for the native musical idiom pervades his compositions, making them sound undoubtedly Argentine. He often alluded to this music as “música campera” and sometimes used the term “popular” - music from the heart of the country, evocative of the folksongs and dances of Argentina. For him, popular meant being in the heart of the listener, much as the music of Chopin was popular around the world for the audience at large.

Guastavino was primarily dedicated to the performance of his own works. In the 1940s, he toured extensively as a pianist, both in Argentina and abroad. An invitation to perform his works at the BBC took him to London in 1947, after his Sonatina for Piano was premiered in Carnegie Hall. His London success resulted in additional invitations to perform for the BBC in 1948 and 1949, aided by a grant awarded to him by the British Council. During his stay in London, he orchestrated his work for two pianos: Tres Romances Argentinos (Three Argentine Romances) premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1949 under the baton of Walter Goher.

The intimate and lyrical character of his music earned him attention from internationally established musicians - many of whom were singers - who began to perform his works in the 1940s. Despite his successful performing career, Guastavino was a man of strong convictions. He gradually stopped concertizing during the 1950s to openly express his profound opposition to the dictatorial policies that took hold of his beloved Argentina at the time. Nevertheless, he continued to tour extensively, including performances in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Russia, and China.

In the late 1950s and through the 60s, growing contact with students inspired Guastavino’s transition from performer to teacher. He taught at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Arte Escénico and at the Conservatorio Municipal Manuel de Falla in Buenos Aires. He loved teaching and was beloved by his students.

After leaving the music world in the 1970s through the mid-80’s, Guastavino resumed composing, fueled in part by the correspondence and support of musicians - both from Argentina and abroad – who expressed interest in his work. Recognition was slow in coming. An introvert by nature, he avoided public exposure, but his music traveled the world regardless. He received various awards from Buenos Aires and the Commission of Culture of Santa Fe, and in May of 1988, Guastavino was awarded the highest distinction by the Organization of American States and the Interamerican Music Council for his life’s work in music. In 1993, he was awarded the Premio Consagración Nacional (National Acknowledgement Award) from the Argentine Ministry of Culture, in recognition of his life’s dedication to music.

As his health declined in the late 1990s, Carlos Guastavino returned to his beloved Santa Fe, where he passed away on October 29, 2000, leaving us a legacy of beloved and achingly beautiful music.